The Miami Heat overcame a Herculean effort by Rajon Rondo to beat the Boston Celtics in overtime and take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
RondoRondo played all 53 minutes, scoring a career-high 44 points while grabbing 8 rebounds and adding 10 assists.
The Elias Sports Bureau reports that he became the first player in NBA history to reach each of those thresholds in a playoff game. Five other players had recorded 40-10-8 games: Tracy McGrady, Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler, Jerry West and Oscar Robertson (twice).
He was also the first Celtics player with at least 40 points and 10 assists in a playoff game.
Rondo had never played every minute of an NBA game in his career. He is the first player to do so in this year’s playoffs. Dwight Howard played every minute in a playoff game twice last year.
Before Game 2, Rondo had never made more than six shots in a game from 15-plus feet from the basket. On Wednesday, he was actually better from long range than close to the basket.
Rondo was 10-for-12 from the field when he was at least 15 feet from the basket but just 4-for-9 from inside 5 feet. The rest of the Celtics struggled from long range, hitting just 14-of-36 shots.
At halftime, Rondo had outperformed the combination of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Rondo had 22 points, four rebounds and seven assists in the first 24 minutes; James and Wade had combined for 15 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists at that point.
The Celtics led by as many as 15 points late in the second quarter. But the third quarter has been the key for the Heat in the playoffs.
Miami outscored Boston 35-22 in the third quarter of Game 2. In the playoffs, the Heat have outscored their opponents by 87 points in their 10 wins. In three playoff losses, they’ve been outscored by 37.
After shooting 85 percent from inside 5 feet in Game 1, the Heat struggled from that range early in Game 2, going just 5-for-13 in the first half. They turned it around after halftime, shooting 7-for-10 in the second half and 4-for-5 in overtime.
Most Games With 30 Pts, 10 Reb NBA Playoffs Since 2006
James turned in another 30-point, 10-rebound game. It was his sixth in the playoffs since joining the Heat, moving past Wade for the franchise record. Since he first made the playoffs in 2006, James has more 30-10 games in the playoffs than any other player.
Wade finished with 23 points after scoring only two in the first half. From our friends at Elias, he is the first player to score at least 20 points in 12 straight playoff games against the Celtics since Jerry West did so in 18 straight games from 1966 to 1969.