Nobody has been more valuable to his team in these playoffs than Rajon Rondo. Without Rondo, the Celtics might not be a playoff team. With him, they're in the Eastern Conference Finals with a chance to go further. The numbers tell some of the story but his greatness and even uniqueness are best measured by just watching. Who plays like him? His ball handling is unmatched. His vision and passing the same. He rebounds better than any point guard in the league. Okay, maybe Rose is a better rebounder, but Rose isn't playing. You can't leave him open anymore or he'll go for 44. His anticipation and quickness defensively make him lethal as an off-ball defender. Consider this. Because most believe that Rondo's weakness is outside shooting, he's left alone on the perimeter all the time. Yet, he's still able to find the open man to the tune of nearly 12 assists per game when the open man most of the time is him! Not easy to do.

Sports fans love to find comparisons. We say all the time, such and such reminds me of dot dot dot. It's hard to come up with a comparable for Rondo. Not many his size have ever had so much variety to the way he's able to impact a game. He nearly won Game 2 in Miami the other night by scoring 44 on 16-24 shooting. On other nights, he doesn't need to shoot and he's still the best player on the floor.  Isn't that what we used to say about Magic?  Maybe Rondo's comparable is Magic.  Or at least a minature version.