Rondo returns, Olynyk & Pressey steal the show, yet Celtics lose to Lakers in a thriller (seriously): 104-107

Photo credit: Brian Babineau/NBAE/Getty Images

Wow, what a game. First of all, a question: who are all these Lakers? Wesley Johnson, a white R. Kelly, Kendall Marshall, something Harris... Who are they, and why are they shooting so well? Have the Lakers run out of money and generated a bunch of fake players with a cheat code?

Anyway, the big story of the night was Rajon Rondo's return, and while he was visibly rusty, he pulled off his signature fake and scored in the post. 8 points, 4 assists, 2 steals were his stats in 19 minutes, and he only turned the ball once which I believe is the best part of these stats. Nonetheless, it was Olynyk, Pressey and Wallace who stole the show tonight. The reason: Well, it could only be that Mike Dyer gave them shitty grades today. Really though, one expectation was that Olynyk's ball distribution would make a difference playing alongside Rondo, and it worked: 7 assists, to go along with 25 points and 5 rebounds! He also had 2 steals and 1 block, so all in all it was an awesome performance by him. Pressey simply picked up from where he left two nights ago: he dished out 9 assists, and at least half of them were highlight stuff. The kid can really distribute. Oh, and he also scored 2-5 from beyond the arc! Not bad. The biggest surprise of all was Gerald Wallace's performance though. It looked like he started caring about basketball again! 14 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals. He also converted 2 of his 3 free throw attempts. He was 66.6% from the line, that's almost his career average (to put things in perspective, he had shot 3-15 in the last few consecutive games) Could Wallace become at least slightly tradeable? We shall see.

Other notes: Green had a close double-double with 12 points and 9 rebounds, Bradley's shooting was abysmal (5-20 FG, the most obvious explanation for the Celtics' loss), Bass had 10 points and 5 rebounds like he always does, Sully still contributed nicely with 11 points and 7 rebounds, and the crowd actually chanted "Beat LA" before the final play of the night. The rivalry lives on, with a few players that we probably won't see in either team's uniform next year!

Oh, and the refs somehow managed to leave an impact on this game with the meaningless re-jump call and the very late foul call on R. Kelly. So there's that too.