Douglas is no match for Celtics' Rondo

BOSTON -- Doc Rivers wasn't ready to concede Chauncey Billups' absence and Tony Douglas' insertion into the starting lineup would be something that would benefit the Celtics.

"I don't know if we are going to take advantage of it," the Celtics coach said Tuesday night before tipoff of Game 2 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round series at TD Garden. "Obviously, Douglas gives them a little more speed. So in some ways, they've been pretty good with Douglas as a starter. Like we told our guys, he's only leading the league in threes since the All-Star break.

"So he's pretty good."

Not Tuesday night, though. Douglas struggled with foul trouble, had all kinds of problems defensively against Rajon Rondo and wasn't much better offensively in the Knicks' 96-93 loss.

Douglas' forte is his ability to score, but he struggled mightily in the spotlight of his first career playoff start. He took the second-highest number of shots for the Knicks, sinking only 5 of 16 attempts and going 2-for-6 from the three-point line in 34 minutes. He scored 14 points, second on the team to Carmelo Anthony's 42.

But his lack of defense against Rondo was one of the main reasons the Celtics had control of the game early on. Rondo had 14 of Boston's first 18 points and pumped in a career playoff-high 30 to go along with seven assists, making it look all too easy at times against Douglas, who operates differently from Billups.

"It's a different pace of the game," Rondo said. "Douglas is more up-tempo style of play. He's going to try to push it on me, on both misses and makes. Chauncey is kind of more of a steady guy that's going to run the show. He can get guys in their sets, and also make big shots throughout the game."

The Knicks missed Billups from the outset and Douglas was in foul trouble from the get-go, picking up two quick fouls -- a la Anthony in Game 1 -- within the game's first 5:39. After collecting his first foul 1:39 in, he appeared to play tentatively, looking like someone who was shying away from contact because he was scared of picking up a second.

Speaking of fouls, Douglas' weirdest moment came late in the first half with the Knicks trailing 38-37, when he picked up his third. Mike D'Antoni was signaling from the bench for someone to foul Rondo as he dribbled the ball about 35 feet away from the basket with 3:22 left in the second quarter.

"The last resort was to get a back tip," Rondo said of the play. "So I just tried to use my wing span and take advantage of the situation." Kind of like he did for the bulk of the night against a guy playing in just his second career playoff game.