No KG, No Problem. No Rondo...hmm...?!

The Boston Celtics had a pair of tough games this past week taking on the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic. They got by Lebron and the Cavs, but lost big to Superman 2 and the Magic. Without Kevin Garnett, the Celtics are 5-3 but they do not look like a worse team. However, the game against the Magic showed one important thing: The Celtics wouldn't win a title (or win the East) without Rajon Rondo.

Without Rondo, Boston's offense just didn't flow. Starbury started in place of the injured point guard but was just not close to being a point guard. Paul Pierce had to really work for his shots. Ray Allen connected with shots, but that's Ray Allen. The C's just had no offensive flow, and if there is someone they need to stay healthy come playoff time, its Rondo. The C's could survive without Garnett, or even Paul Pierce and Ray Allen (ofcourse not all at the same time), but if you take away Rajon Rondo away from this team, it will make them the 3rd best team in the East for sure!

IS RANDY FOYE STILL NOT OVER KG TRADE?

Wolves point guard Randy Foye - one of only three players on roster who was present for the Kevin Garnett era in Minnesota - hasn't really been himself since the Big Ticket punched out of the Twin Cities. Leading up to their game against the Celtics, the first that Garnett was to play in Minnesota against the team he led for 12 years, Foye had these things to say about his old teammate:

"One thing I miss about him is, he just let me go. That's why I was so successful my rookie year,'' said Foye, who has sputtered in the season-plus since. "No matter what happened, if I made a mistake, I'd look at him and he'd go [Foye balls up a fist and pumps it], like 'It's all right. Keep your head up.'

"It makes you feel better. It'd be like that for anyone in their work, if there was a legend who pumped you up. For a young player, that just boosted my confidence. Sometimes, in my rookie year, I felt like an All-Star out there because he let me do what I wanted and when I got it going, he let me go.''

It sounds to me like he wasn't really over that time. It's hard to blame him. Sure, it's been over a year, and KG has surely moved on (especially after winning a ring in his very first season outside of Minnesota). Sure they played him once in Boston last year, but never at the Target Center - where even the crowd still loves him, maybe even more than they love the Wolves. Well, after stinking up the gym in the Boston game (4 points on 2 of 12 shooting, 1 assist to 2 turnovers), it may have finally sunk in that Ticket is gone and Foye has to do things his way now. It just may be the most important game in Foye's young career. It might be the game he finally lets go of Garnett.

He seems to have moved on now - and how. On his very next game, he torched the Pistons with 23 points and a career-best 14 assists in 106-80 rout of the Iverson-led unit; the Wolves' first road win of the season. He's finally playing like someone you'd trade Brandon Roy for (although technically, Roy was traded for Randy and a million dollars - so if Foye can be worth at least that, it'd be fine). The game against KG may be a turning point. I won't be putting my money on the Wolves (still just 3-9 this season) anytime soon, but I sure will be keeping an eye on Foye in the coming weeks.

(Update: In the four games Foye has played since, he's been averaging 17 points and 8 assists.)