BOSTON - A win is a win, they say, and Rajon Rondo would be one of those people. After the Boston Celtics close 100-94 overtime victory over the Washington Wizards -- during which Rondo missed a potential game-winning three at the end of regulation -- Rondo talked about the importance of simply getting the win, putting Boston at 2-2 overall.
"We got stops when we needed to," said Rondo, who finished with 18 points, 14 assists and three steals. "Overall, it's all about the win and that's what we did."
The Celtics again started strong with an early 11-2 lead, but just like Saturday's game against Washington, the Wizards stormed back to take a late lead. Both sides traded buckets down the stretch before the Celtics got the ball with roughly nine seconds remaining. Rondo took the inbound pass and ran the clock down before attempting a game-winning trey, which he missed.
Brandon Bass stepped up to save the Celtics in overtime, scoring five of his 11 points in the period to boost Boston to the six point victory.
"He was aggressive," Rondo said about Bass. "He didn't force any of his shots. He drove to the basket, drove strong and hard, got fouled, got a couple layups and made some big plays for us."
Of Rondo's potential game-winning attempt, Celtics head coach Doc Rivers said that it was a poorly executed play that wasn't even designed for Rondo.
"It was bad execution, honestly," Rivers said of the play. "It was a pin-down for Paul Pierce, it was supposed to be, Paul we wanted at the elbow and he was there; I thought Rondo could've thrown it to him, then JET [Jason Terry] was coming off the weak side. I thought Rondo made up his mind to go for it. I'm fine with that, but I didn't like the execution."
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