Baaaaaaasically. Eddie's game was just nasty.
There were a ton of positives in this game, but the beginning was brutal. The C's did a great job of composing themselves after letting the Kings shoot 65% in the first frame. If there was ever a trap game, this was it. We hadn't played since Sunday afternoon and the rust was clear from the tip. The Kings were coming off a tough loss to the Cavs in overtime the night before and were clearly fired up. The length of the previous game showed as they appeared to get more and more tired as the game went on. Our lack of aggression turned around in the second quarter as we outscored them 40-19. Being down by 10 in the first quarter and then going up by 14 entering the half is a great turnaround and shows what this team is capable of doing.
Rondo kicks Brad Miller where the sun don't shine after a dirty play the refs missed where Miller stiff-armed Rondo after the whistle blew. Check out that coordination, though!
Rondo again is making a bid to be an All-Star reserve, going 10-15 (again using his speed getting into the paint and getting layups as well as hitting jumpers, which are getting a lot more consistent). He had a total of 24 points to go along with 9 assists. And how great is it to see the chemistry between KG and Rondo? They essentially base their game on eye contact alone, and they've got it down so well that they're going to get an alley-oop at least once a game (they had I think 2 or 3 last night). Another thing they've been running lately is a give and go. Rondo passes the ball to KG who's in the post, Rondo runs by and uses him to pick off his guy, and KG delivers a perfect pass to Rondo who lays it in. I know the Kings aren't a defensive team at all, but this play can work against anyone if run correctly. So pretty.
Tony Allen finally returned to the lineup after an 11-day absence due to an ankle problem. And boy was he effective. He seems to have a lot of explosiveness back and his speed is way up there. He blew by his defender several times. Overall, he was 5-5 with 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and a blocked shot. I'm not a fan of him really, but it's great to see him really contribute off the bench and attack the rim. He was especially needed because Brian Scalabrine was out after suffering his second concussion in a couple of days, colliding with Patrick O'Bryant in practice (after getting an elbow to the head from Dirk Nowitski. And yes, they called a foul on Scal. Makes sense.). He has been playing beyond expectations while he was healthy and believe it or not, when Scal starts for the Celtics, we have a perfect record (6-0 this season).
Now onto the star of the show. Tedward. Is he ever gonna cool off? Doesn't seem like it. After an extended break, House picked up right where he left off. Quote of the night from Tommy: "They shouldn't call him Eddie House...they should call him Eddie MANSION!" He was 8-9 from three, which is a career high for him. He came within 3 points from matching his career high in points, but missing only one three is impressive enough. And it wasn't like he was wide open with all of these. Several of them were off balance and/or with a guy in his face, forcing him to change the arc of the ball. One memorable one had Eddie running to his left on the baseline with a defender in his grill and he STILL knocked it down. Incredible. The Kings actually ended up double-teaming him.
That'll do, Eddie. That'll do.
The bench overall scored 61 points, with House outscoring all of the Kings bench players on his own. Our previous high for bench points was 49, if I remember correctly. When your bench scores that many points, I don't care if you're playing the London Sillynannies or the Monstars from Space Jam, you're going to win.
Next game at Detroit on Friday at 7 pm. Until then...
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