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Rajon Rondo lives for the playoffs

The first time I heard about Rajon Rondo, it was from Bill Simmons as he raved about the kid's talent in a column on ESPN.com. It took a couple years, but eventually Rondo blossomed into the great point guard that Simmons had seen coming. He's long, quick, athletic and he passes exceptionally well. The biggest flaw to his game is shooting, but for whatever reason, he can get to the rim even with his defender knowing he's not going to take that 15-foot jump shot.

The most interesting aspect of Rondo's game is the way he statistically blows up in the playoffs. During the regular season, he's a good-to-great point guard. During the 2008-2009 regular season, he averaged 12 points, 8 assists 5 rebounds and a couple steals per game. Then the playoffs rolled around, and over 14 games he averaged 17 points, 9.8 assists and 9.7 rebounds per. The guy was a walking triple double.

Apparently that's just how Rondo is wired, as we see a similar story this year. From November to April, he averaged 13.7 points, 9.8 assists and 4.4 rebounds. Playoffs? 17.9 points, 11.4 assists and 7.1 rebounds, including an incredible 29 point, 13 assist and 18 rebound performance against the Cavs yesterday. He just takes it to another level when the games matter most, a characteristic all the greats have had.

He may have been overshadowed by Garnett, Allen and Pierce these last couple of years, but watch for him to take this team over as The Big 3 age.

World Cup 2010

I don't often covet things this much, but I want to go to the World Cup in South Africa pretty badly. I spent five months there in 2002 as a proselyting missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints... most of it in the Cape Town region of the country, though I was near Johannesburg for a couple weeks.

South Africa is a stunningly beautiful country with its share of problems. Poverty abounds in what are called townships, essentially shack cities made up of non-whites. While apartheid is no longer law in South Africa, the people continue to segregate themselves pretty effectively, and racial tensions are always high.

Nonetheless, I've wanted to go back pretty much since the day I left. But the prospect of visiting while the nation is hosting the World Cup kicks that desire into overdrive.

If you were paying attention to the time I was there the first time, you'll notice 2002 was a World Cup year, and the way soccer brought all South Africans together was nothing short of amazing. Black, white, colored (a South African term for children of a mixed relationship), it didn't matter. They all loved Bafana Bafana (a nickname for the national team meaning "boys" in Zulu) and cheered them on from their homes and from bars during every match.

I can only imagine what uniting power this event will have on the country, possibly to a long-lasting positive effect, and I'd love to be there to see it.

The Freakonomics bloggers wrote about a temporary effect hosting such a large event can have on a nation.

Hosting an international football event does, however, seem to improve national wellbeing (the “feelgood” factor). The BPS Research Digest blog reports that the games are associated with big happiness boosts: “three times the size of the happiness boost associated with gaining a higher education; one and half times the happiness boost associated with getting married; and nearly large enough to offset the misery triggered by divorce.” The effect, unfortunately, lasts less than a year.

Pretty neat stuff, and a big reason sport is so popular worldwide. You invest a lot into a team, a player, a sport, and then, every once in a while, it all pays off.

Go Bafana Bafana!

Top 10 plays of the first round

Don't agree with J.R. Smith's breakaway dunk being #3, personally. I generally give more credit to plays made when there are defenders within 50 feet of the guy making the play.

Phil Jackson fined

Apparently David Stern didn't take kindly to Coach Jackson's criticizing of the way officials treat Kevin Durant, and the Zen Master has been fined $35,000 for the comments, which were said earlier this week.

As Basketbawful writer Dan so eloquently put it:

After giving the NBA refs and Kevin Durant a piece of his mind, The Zen Master is getting slapped with another fine. His wallet will be $35,000 lighter after complaining about Kevin Durant getting superstar calls. Of course, he doesn't have anything to say about Kobe setting up a cot, mini-fridge, and TV at the free throw line in the '02 Western Conference Finals when the refs allowed him to temporarily live there.

Well said.

Playoffs 2010

An abbreviated preview of the 2010 NBA Playoffs:

EAST

1. Cleveland vs. 8. Chicago

The Bulls are a mediocre team. The Cavs are a mediocre team without LeBron James. I can't believe that with all of the efforts Cleveland's management have made towards getting a great supporting cast for LeBron that Antawn Jamison and Shaq are the best they could do. That said, the Cavs win this series easily, thanks to the guy who's going to win the MVP. Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah are good players, but not great.

Cavs in 4.

2. Orlando vs. 7. Charlotte

The Charlotte Bobcats are one of the two teams I've seen play in person this season. While they lead the league in opponents' points per game, unfortunately, defense is only half of the equation, and they are third worst in points scored per game themselves. This is mainly because their offense is predicated on Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson creating shots for themselves. Wallace and Jackson are good players, but they are second bananas, intended to play next to an alpha dog like Wade or Garnett or Kobe.

Orlando has actually taken a step back this year, essentially trading Hedo Turkoglu for Vince Carter. Hedo was huge for the Magic last postseason, nailing clutch shots for them time after time. Vince has playoff experience, with 42 postseason games under his belt, but I don't see him coming through like Orlando will need him to to make it back to the Finals.

That said, the Magic don't need Vince to score 30 a game to get past Charlotte.

Magic in 6.

3. Atlanta vs. 6. Milwaukee

One of the biggest stories of the year was Milwaukee's arrival on the scene as a pretty good basketball team, thanks in no small part to center Andrew Bogut's performance. Bogut averaged 15 points and 10 boards a game with 2.5 blocks, to boot.

Unfortunately, Bogut busted his elbow in a pretty horrific way a couple weeks ago and is out for the rest of the season. Atlanta isn't exactly a world-beater, but Josh Smith and Al Horford are more than enough to deal with this Bucks team. If Brandon Jennings' shooting percentages hadn't fallen off the face of the earth after a quick start this season (shooting 37% on the year now), I might have predicted a different outcome.

Hawks in 5.

4. Boston vs. 5. Miami

The Celtics are finished. Garnett is injured/old, Pierce is injured/old and Ray Allen is still Ray Allen, but it'll take more than he and Rajon Rondo to beat Wade and the Heat. I'm not in love with this Miami team, but #3 is amazing enough that he can win this series all by himself.

The Celtics mortgaged their future for a ring two seasons ago, and right now, the future is collecting on that debt. If it weren't for Rondo (who manages to average a triple double in the playoffs every year somehow), I'd be tempted to predict a sweep for the Heat.

Miami in 6.

WEST

1. Lakers vs. 8. Thunder

Here's the irony about this matchup: I think the Thunder easily win the backcourt matchups. Durant is more than a match for getting-old-and-he's-injured Kobe in scoring, and apparently Oklahoma City's Thabo Sefolosha has the potential to limit the Black Mamba quite a bit. Take the time to read that link... it's pretty involved. In addition, Russell Westbrook clearly outclasses Derek Fisher (unless the Fish can turn back into Playoff Derek Fisher for a few games).

The problem for the Thunder is that they can't hope to match up with the Laker big men. Gasol and Odom are difficult enough to deal with, but assuming Bynum is healthy for this series, that's just not fair. Serge Ibaka, Nick Collison and Nenad Krstic are all decent players, but defensively they have little hope of slowing down the Lakers near the hoop for an entire series.

Lakers in a surprisingly close 6 games.

2. Dallas vs. 7. San Antonio

The Spurs are done. Duncan is at the tail end of his career, Manu isn't the same guy he was five years ago and Tony Parker relied heavily on those two guys to get his rings. Meanwhile, Dallas is peaking right now with Dirk, Kidd and Marion all playing pretty well these days. If Jason Terry can provide 16 points a game, this series will be quick and ugly. A motivated Dampier (contract year) and fairly effective Haywood shore up the middle for Dallas. Watch for Mav guard Rodrigue Beaubois in this series. He's got a bright future in front of him.

Dallas in 5.

3. Phoenix vs. 6. Portland

I have never seen a team be as injury-cursed as the Blazers this season. Seems like every single player on their roster went down for an extended period at some time over the last six months. But perhaps no loss was bigger than watching Brandon Roy sit out thanks to a knee injury. Roy will certainly miss this series, but he may return if Portland advances.

Unfortunately, that's one series too long for the Blazers. The Suns are on a roll right now, with Nash playing as well as he ever has (at 36!), Amare looking more and more like pre-microfracture surgery Amare every day (I've missed that guy) and the role players shooting lights out.

Phoenix doesn't have the defense to win it all this year, but they can take care of an utterly devastated Portland team no problem.

Suns in 5.

4. Denver vs. 5. Utah

Denver in 5.

So there you go. I'm looking forward to TNT's "40 Games in 40 Nights" thing, though my wife probably is not. If I had to pick a team to win it all this season, I'd have to give a tiny, tiny, tiny edge to the Cavs, depending on how well Shaq can deal with Bynum and company.

Durant responds

How anyone could dislike Kevin Durant is beyond me. As I said yesterday, he's done nothing but conduct himself with class his entire basketball career.

And even with Phil Jackson in his face, he's not changing that.

I don’t disrespect nobody in this league. I respect every coach, every player, everybody. I never say anything bad about anybody else or question why they do this or do that. So for them to say that about me, I don’t even want to use no foul language.

If the refs pay attention to that and change how they call things because of that, that’s terrible. That’s terrible to the game of basketball and to us. If that happens, then (coach) Scotty (Brooks) could talk, too. Or any other coach could talk, too, just so the refs could switch everything up. But I doubt they do that. They’re smarter than that, and they have more skills than that as refs.

Impressive. It may have been better just to ignore Jackson's pre-complaining, but this way the refs have to decide whether to let Phil's subtle mind games affect them or not. So that's nice.

What would be even nicer is the Thunder beating the Lakers in the first round. The problem is, Oklahoma City doesn't have the ability to deal with Bynum/Odom/Gasol (but name a team that can), or I'd really feel they had a chance.

On that note, look for a playoff preview tomorrow.