NBA scores 2014: Rajon Rondo provides a glimpse and 3 other things we learned

The Mavericks’ new point guard showed flashes of how he’ll fit in while Monta Ellis carried the show with 38 points.

by Tim Cato

Dec 21, 2014, 2:00 PM UTC

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

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NBA scores and results: Rajon Rondo makes Dallas debut

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DALLAS -- With 12 seconds left and a six-point lead, Rajon Rondo rose for a three-pointer from the right wing. It would have iced a comeback win and dominated the highlight package the local television channels will run late into the night.

Of course, the shot clanked off back iron. The Mavericks were OK without it, finishing with a 99-93 win against the depleted Spurs seconds later. But there was no storybook ending for Rondo's Dallas debut. He and the Mavericks are absolutely still a work in progress.

“I didn’t make a lot of shots tonight,” he said after the game. “I just wanted to go out on the defensive end of the floor and make plays for my team.”

There was still plenty of good to draw from Rondo's opening game, 3-of-11 shooting be damned. He finished with six points, seven rebounds and nine assists -- nearing triple-double territory seemingly without effort -- and finally penetrated the Spurs' zone defense that had frustrated Dallas all night by facilitating from the elbow, an adjustment the Mavericks made at halftime. Mainly, he knew when to let his backcourt mate Monta Ellis take over.

“He scored 38 points so I didn’t hold him back too much,” Rondo said. “We both like to dominate the ball but I think we both played well off each other.”

Many people had questions whether the two could coexist in the Mavericks’ offense, and those will persist as the season develops. On Saturday, though, the two didn’t look one bit out of place sharing the ball.

“[Rondo] was great,” Ellis said. “He’s still got to get a feel for it, but he did a wonderful job of finding guys.”

The top seven guys in the Spurs’ rotation were out for rest or injury and it still took a fourth-quarter surge for Dallas to come out ahead. Rondo hasn’t practiced with the team in full. This team is still coming together, but the Mavericks have months ahead of them to get where they want to be. If Rondo’s right, they might not even need that.

“It’s not going to take long,” Rondo said. “For the most part, it’s basketball.”

3 other things we learned

Phoenix's guards still just don't fit. After six straight losses, the Suns have won the last two games to pull back to an even 14-14 record. But, even in a 99-90 win against the Knicks, their guard trio still doesn't look fluid. An offensive attack that was supposed to use all three interchangeably is inevitably leaving someone out. On Saturday, while Isaiah Thomas was putting the game away with a late three-pointer and Eric Bledsoe was leading the team with 25 points, Goran Dragic scored 10 points on 11 shots and only had two assists. Too often, he was relegated to the corner as a spot-up shooter, which is a waste of his abilities.

The rotation could still work. But like the transition with Rondo and the Mavericks, the Suns still have a lot to settle before they are firing on all cylinders.

The Hawks don't care if you think they're "for real" or not. With a win against the Rockets in Houston, Atlanta has won 12 of its last 13 games with an incendiary offense that no one can slow down. During this streak, the leading scorer has alternated between Paul Millsap, Al Horford, Jeff Teague, DeMarre Carroll, Shelvin Mack and now Kyle Korver, who torched Houston with 22 points on 12 shots.

Portland shook off a triple overtime game with an all-out blitz of New Orleans. If the Trail Blazers were tired after Friday night's three-overtime win against the Spurs (and they probably were), they didn't show it on the second night of a back-to-back. Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge, who played 53 and 52 minutes, respectively, the night before, led the Blazers with 44 points on 56 percent shooting to roll the Pelicans, 114-88. New Orleans likely never expected the quick-paced, run-at-every-opportunity offense and never recovered from Portland's 15-point lead after the first quarter.

Play of the Night

The main reason this is the play of the night is that James Harden could have just barreled into Korver and put the play in the referee's hands. Korver had position, but Harden gets that call more times than not, and he knows that. Instead, he tossed it up at a crazy angle to Dwight Howard and made a play we can watch half a dozen times in a loop above. You did good, James.