[Aces McGee]

BobboFitos - I had the same discussion with Seth a couple of nights ago. I don't necessarily mind Rondo in there in crunchtime, but I agree that if he is going to be on the floor, we need to go small to get Perkins out. Even so, it doesn't excuse Rondo's poor shot selection and execution in overtime.

That said, another friend of mine last night mentioned that he likes seeing Rondo out there with the confidence to take those shots, as it is important to his development as a player. I see what he's saying, but I'm not sure I ever see the kid becoming enough of an offensive threat that I want him taking those shots. At the same time, I very much doubt Rajon is taking 12-foot floaters in OT of Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Finals. If he wants to experiment a little during the regular season, that's probably okay.

chev9, I'm pretty sure the Celtics were trying for a two-for-one at the end of regulation, but the play ended up breaking down. I wish I could remember the specifics of the play, but I was paying attention to it because my housemate and I had said "two for one" in unison when we got the ball back with 37 on the clock. My very vague memory is of a deflection or something. Anyway, I'm pretty sure we were trying to get a shot off early, but it's always better to work for a good shot than it is for someone to just throw the ball at the bucket with 28 on the game clock.

I'm not too terribly disappointed with the loss; how often is Gooden going to go 11-for-15? Lebron is good enough that the Cavs become very tough to beat if they get another guy scoring like this, and last night Gooden was that guy.

For some reason I was paying a lot of attention to Perkins last night. He did some good things on both ends, but he still does some mystifying things -- there was one play where KG hit him with a pass and he needed to go up and dunk it, but instead he caught it, took a dribble away from the bucket while the defense caught up to him, positioned himself for a jump hook, then thought better of the whole thing and kicked it out. I can't believe he's been in the league as long as he has and played as many minutes as he has and still lacks that basic awareness. If you are going to be an NBA center with limited skills, you'd better know when you're open enough to jam it.

He also better keep shooting FTs the way he has been -- take out the 1 for 6 against Denver and he's over 70% on the year -- because he's going to get fouled a lot with defenses concentrating on the other guys and KG's ability to find him underneath. He's so slow off the floor, though; once he catches the ball, jumping is like a three-step process.

-McGee