The Celtics have three players that look like sure-fire Hall of Fame candidates at the conclusion of their playing careers.  But it was neither Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce nor Ray Allen who have made the difference for the Celtics in the 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Rajon Rondo scored 29 points, grabbed 18 rebounds and dished out 13 assists as Boston tied their series with Cleveland at 2-2 with a  97-87 victory in Game 4 at the TD Garden.  Rondo collected his fourth career postseason triple-double, as he did it all for the Celtics.  The 6’3″ point guard has been the best player in the series, showing up in each and every game regardless of whether it resulted in a win or a loss for Boston.

Cleveland has not found a way to keep Rondo from controlling the flow of the Boston offense.  In Games 1-3, the Cavs were covering him with defensively-challenged guard Mo Williams.  After that proved to be ineffective, Cleveland made an adjustment to give the assignment to the bigger and stronger Anthony Parker.  But Rondo ran wilder than ever before in this series, beating Parker off the dribble and knocking down occasional free-throw line extended jumpers to keep the Cleveland defense honest.

As evidenced by his 13 assists in Game 4, Rondo is always looking for his teammates.

Boston got 18 apiece from Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett.  Allen struggled with his shooting tonight (only 8-21 FG), but Garnett put in some good work with his back to the basket.  But the biggest contribution came from reserve guard Tony Allen, who scored 15 points on 6-7 shooting.  Allen played with a lot of spirit and energy, and was primarily covering LeBron James. 

Speaking of James, it seems almost like he’s taking every other game off.  In Games 1 and 3, he gave us dominant performances – clearly leading the Cavs to wins.  But in Games 2 and 4, he has not been the unstoppable force that everyone is used to seeing.  Today, James had 22 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists and a whopping 7 turnovers.  Cleveland finished with five players in double figures, but its leader didn’t have his “A game” in a critical game that could have placed the Celtics on life support, trailing 3-1.

But now, with the series at 2-2, the Cavs and Celtics are reduced to deciding which team will advance by duking it out in a best-of-three.  The Cavs were able to regain their home court advantage by splitting in Boston, but Boston has proven that they are not intimidated by playing at the Q. 

The bottom line for the Cavs is that someone needs to get a handle on Rajon Rondo.  If that doesn’t happen, Cleveland might not get their anticipated rematch with Orlando in the Eastern Conference Finals.