NBA Battle of Young Point Guards: Rajon Rondo Shines, Brandon Jennings Struggles
Forty-eight minutes wasn’t enough time to decide a winner in the highly anticipated battle of young point guards between the up-and-coming Milwaukee Bucks and the defending Eastern Conference Champion Boston Celtics.
It took a five minute overtime period before Paul Pierce’s free throw shooting was able to seal the 105-102 win for Boston.
After entering the season with high expectations and their eyes set on the Eastern Conference Central division crown, the Bucks’ record now stands at a disappointing 1-4. Milwaukee refused to go down easy in Boston, coming up with clutch shots and defensive stops late in the fourth quarter and overtime, but a bad inbounds pass with 4 seconds remaining on the clock ended the Bucks’ hope for a comeback.
The battle between point guards Rajon Rondo and Brandon Jennings got off to a slow start, as both players struggled with turnovers and shooting in the first quarter.
Rondo put his first quarter struggles behind him, however, and put on a show for the rest of the game, finishing with 17 points, 15 assists, 8 rebounds and 3 steals despite collecting a season high 6 turnovers.
The 15 assists gave Rondo a total of 82 through the first five games, a new NBA record.
Rondo was 7-10 from the field and got back into the groove that fans had seen through his first four games. One of his most impressive plays of the night came when he blocked a John Salmons layup attempt in the third quarter.
Rondo has not only become a fantasy basketball monster, but he's also put himself in the discussion as the best point guard in the game.
Jennings, on the other hand, struggled to find his offense until the last 4:30 of the fourth quarter.
The second-year point guard finished with 13 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds on 5-13 shooting. His backup, Keyon Dooling, had a much more efficient 10 points on 4-7 shooting.
It was evident that Jennings had a tough time defending the much stronger Rondo, as Rajon was able to blow by Jennings and get to the hoop on countless occasions.
Jennings’ assist numbers through the first five games have been hurt by the Bucks’ terrible field goal shooting (27th in the NBA) but Jennings’ shooting hasn’t been very good either as he’s hitting just 37% of his shots on the season.
The Bucks are having a tough time finding their identity on offense with John Salmons recovering from a knee injury and Corey Maggette still trying to find his role.
It will be up to the 21-year-old Jennings to step up his game and find a way to get the struggling Bucks’ offense rolling. Jennings scored 20 points and had a triple-double in the Bucks’ only win this season – he’ll need to put up better numbers than he did tonight if Milwaukee wants to meet their high expectations.
