Josh Smith Giving Rockets Boost That Mavs Fail to Get from Rajon Rondo

With basketball Bunsen burners strewn about and head coach-turned-mad-scientist Rick Carlisle frantically searching for formulas to keep the Dallas Mavericks' season alive, the Rajon Rondo experiment appears to be on the brink of blowing up.

As for the Houston Rockets, their examination of the Josh Smith phenomenon is edging toward a full-blown breakthrough.

Four months ago, that would have sounded absurd. The Mavs brought in Rondo to be the missing playmaker they so sorely needed, and any piece of productivity Houston extracted from Smith was going to be viewed as a bonus.

Now it seems we've entered a parallel universe where J-Smoove is finally living up to his potential, while Rondo's future with the Mavericks remains uncertain.

While the Mavericks sputtered their way toward a 111-99 Game 2 loss Tuesday at the Toyota Center, Rondo remained glued to Dallas' bench after picking up his fourth foul 34 seconds into the third quarter. Carlisle never looked back to his 29-year-old point guard, whose demeanor read equal parts disinterested and frustrated.

En route to seizing a 2-0 series lead, the Rockets leaned on Smith not just to score but also to distribute in a way that would have made some of the league's most esteemed point guards fill with envy. Led by their divisive December acquisition, the Rockets put together a fourth-quarter flourish that saw them outscore the Mavericks, 30-19.

Smith recorded 15 points in 26 minutes off the pine, but it was his nine assists—including seven in the fourth quarter—that stole the show.

Smith and frontcourt running buddy Dwight Howard (28 points, 12 rebounds) connected on six alley-oops as the Rockets pulverized the Mavericks with deflating aerial acrobatics that allowed them to maintain a grip on home-court advantage as the series crosses over to Dallas.

Smoove's nine assists not only tied a playoff career high, according to the Houston Chronicle's Jenny Dial Creech, but they also created an ironic dynamic, considering where Rondo spent the game's final 24 minutes, as Basketball Insiders' Jessica Camerato noted:

Rondo finished with four points and a single assist in 10 minutes. Needless to say, posting identical foul and scoring totals isn't the mark of an impactful postseason performance.

According to ESPN, Rondo's playoff playing time had never been restricted like that before:   

Tacit indictments of Rondo's play spoke volumes, too.

Not only did J.J. Barea dominate minutes (34) in favor of Dallas' big midseason acquisition, but Raymond Felton—who topped 15 minutes six times all season—also tallied nine points and three assists in 18 minutes off the bench.

"I liked the way the other guys were playing, so I elected not to put him back in," Carlisle told reporters after the loss, per ESPN.

Rondo, on the other hand, abstained from commenting, according to the Mavs Outsider Report's Bryan Gutierrez:

Through two games, it's been Barea—not Rondo—who can fairly be dubbed Dallas' most reliable floor general. Unlike Rondo, Barea has kept the ball moving at an appropriate clip and kept continuity intact. 

But when Rondo's taken the reins, Dallas' offense has devolved into an amorphous mess. The constant kinetic energy that the Mavericks have become renowned for disappears into thin air, with defenders sagging off Rondo in favor of attending to the team's more threatening outside shooters.

Player	Minutes	Points	Assists	FG%	3P%	Plus/Minus
J.J. Barea	56	25	6	47.8	25.0	+7
Rajon Rondo	37	19	6	45.0	50.0	-36

"With Rondo, the Mavericks have spacing issues," Hardwood Paroxysm's Chris Manning wrote after Game 1. "The Rockets, when he was in the game, used Rondo’s man to double down on [Dirk] Nowitzki and onto Monta Ellis when the Mavericks tried to have Rondo hand the ball off to Ellis on the perimeter. For large stretches in this game, the Rockets just didn’t defend Rondo."

When that happens, over-dribbling and hopeful probing take over. As the results of the past two games have indicated, that methodology isn't kind to Dallas' hopes of postseason survival.

But while Dallas pines for the Rondo of postseasons past to reappear, Houston has seemingly uncovered a gem in the 29-year-old Smith, as Bleacher Report's Andy Bailey noted:

In his first postseason appearance since 2013 with the Atlanta Hawks, Smith has proved to be well worth the gamble Houston took in December after the Detroit Pistons waived him.

While his game has long been stigmatized by inefficient jump-shooting practices—the biggest knock on Rondo's game for years—Smith has found a home in Houston, where Howard and James Harden (24 points, six assists) give him the space and comfort to play freely.

Two games into his playoff quest, Smith has posted 26 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists and converted on 12 of his 29 field-goal attempts.

He's the do-it-all difference-maker Houston needs, and the one Dallas is still searching for. 

And for all of the grief Smith has received, he's been a net positive for Houston on both ends of the floor since arriving—which isn't an accomplishment Rondo can boast about his time in Dallas. 

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

Although Rondo packs tons of talent into a diminutive 6'1'' stature, his ball-dominant skills are tailor-made for a team to build a system around them. Instead, the Mavericks have had to try to integrate him into their existing scheme, one that hasn't been receptive to his unique style.

Two games into this first-round series, Houston has outscored Dallas by 36 points during Rondo's 37 minutes on the floor. Based on regular-season numbers that indicated he wasn't a natural fit for Dallas' pass-happy, quick-strike offense, that small sample size isn't entirely surprising.

In Houston, Smith has been a chameleon. During the regular season, the Rockets were 8.6 points better per 100 possessions with him on the floor, a trend that has held against Dallas. Over the past two games, Houston has outscored the Mavericks by 11 points with Smith flying around the Toyota Center hardwood. 

With an unexpected hero rising, Houston is poised to break through the first-round barrier for the first time since 2009. Meanwhile, Dallas' season is hanging in the balance as reminders of a midseason move gone wrong continue to haunt the No. 7 seed. 

Two games at American Airlines Center will offer Rondo the chance to overcome his demons, but Smith and the Rockets are in position to dash their hopes with an authoritative stroke.

All statistics are current as of April 22 and courtesy of NBA.com unless noted otherwise.