Bulls defeat Celtics 94-80 in Rajon Rondo's broadcast debut

Rajon Rondo was clearly nervous at the start, during the pre-game segment he talked so fast he sounded like me giving my first ever "oral report" in 6th grade.  But as the game wore on he began to settle down, and it showed in his performance.  Originally Rondo was scheduled to do color commentary alongside Mike Gorman for just the first quarter, but he found his rhythm and decided to stick around for the second quarter as well.

Rondo was his usual calm and monotone self, but he offered some very specific and in-depth basketball analysis.  In many ways he was the anti-Heinsohn, none more obvious than when he said simply "no comment" in regards to a bad illegal screen call.  Whereas Tommy would have blown up, Rondo adhered to the league's strict rules against players and coaches criticizing officials.

As far as the game goes that Rondo was discussing, the Celtics opened up an early 46-37 lead, and took a 50-48 advantage into halftime.  It was still a one-point contest after three, with the Bulls on top 71-70.  But Chicago held Boston scoreless for the first four minutes of the 4th quarter, and used a 13-0 run to effectively put things out of reach.

Mike Dunleavy scored 22 for the Bulls, while Joakim Noah added 19 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks.

Brandon Bass paced the C's with 18 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 blocks.

It was the Celtics 5th straight loss, and temporarily puts them into a tie with Utah for the 4th worst record in the league at 23-51.



Follow Mark Vandeusen on twitter @LucidSportsFan