Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle said that going forward he has no intentions of keeping Rajon Rondo on the bench during crunch time, despite doing so during the team's 102-98 Friday night loss to the Bulls.
Mavericks coach says benching Rajon Rondo was an ‘aberration’
Rick Carlisle says he plans on playing the team’s recently acquired point guard in crunch time going forward.
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That move, which Carlisle described afterwards as a "coach's decision" while declining to explain further, was brought up by reporters again Sunday night prior to the Mavericks' game against the Pelicans. Here, via ESPN Dallas, is what Carlisle had to say:
“The other night’s an aberration most likely,” Carlisle said before Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans. “We have a closing five. I just deviated from it the other night. I don’t expect that to happen very often. Going forward, we play the whole game to set up the last five or six minutes to have a chance to win or catch somebody or close it out with a lead. Rondo’s going to be in there most of the time. There’s no doubt about that.”
Rondo is averaging 10.8 points, 7.2 assists and 5.2 rebounds in 17 games with the Mavericks, who acquired him from the Celtics in December. Dallas is 11-6 with Rondo in the lineup. Against the Bulls on Friday, though, Rondo had just six points and four assists.
When asked his thoughts on the situation, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said, “I’m in favor of letting someone who I think is a top-three coach in the league coach. That’s what I’m in favor of.” Here are the rest of Cuban’s thoughts, also via ESPN Dallas.
“Sometimes coaches coach by feel and you lose track of things, but it happens. There’s been times that Dirk [Nowitzki] hasn’t closed, times Monta [Ellis] hasn’t closed. You pick any guy in particular that we’ve had over the years. With Rick in particular, when something’s going, it happens.”
Rondo was back on the floor during crunch time Sunday against the Pelicans. He was unable to lead the Mavericks to a win -- they lost, 109-106 -- but did come close to recording a triple double, as he scored 17 points, dished out nine assists and pulled down eight rebounds.
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