The problem is Rondo

Lamenting the loss of Kendrick Perkins can only go so far.

Yes, the Celtics were a far more physical, in your face, grind-it-out team when they had their 6 foot 10, 275-pound monolith patrolling the paint with the intensity of a polar bear.

There probably wasn’t a single team in the league who looked forward to playing the Celtics on a given night. Perkins and Kevin Garnett became arguably the best interior defensive tag-team in the entire league for the past few seasons, and made it impossible for opposing teams’ big men to get anything going in the paint.

His absence, however, is not the reason for the team’s current spiral toward mediocrity. It’s the play of Rajon Rondo. Since the Feb 24 trade that sent Perkins and Nate Robinson packing, the Celtics have been uneven and without direction. There is nowhere else to point but at No. 9.

Since the trade Rondo has had only 10 games with at least 10 assists. On Sunday against Miami (a team that has absolutely no player that can match up with his combination of speed and athleticism), he had seven points on 3 of 8 shooting while compiling five assists.

The Celtics’ offense is generated by what Rondo does. At the beginning of the season when he was on pace to break the all time assists record, there wasn’t a player on the team who wasn’t constantly involved in the offense. The inside presence of Shaquille O’Neal certainly made life easier, but many in the league believed he was one of the top two or three point guards in the league.

Now? Rondo can barely hold the jock strap of Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Deron Williams and Chris Paul.That isn’t to say he can’t outduel any one of those supremely gifted players on a given night. But the way Rondo is playing right now, he’s having a hard time outplaying the likes of Mike Bibby and DJ Augustin.

Rondo, apparently, is best friends with Perkins. They still talk regularly. But there has to be something deeper going on with him. It is hard to believe that his play has dropped so precipitously because his close buddy was traded at the deadline.

One thing is for sure: The Celtics are no longer a team destined for greatness. They could make another magical run like last season. But does anyone believe LeBron James is going to completely shut down like he did in last season’s second round matchup?

And the Chicago Bulls look a like the ’07 Celtics. They have a rugged interior defense anchored by Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah. They have a young superstar point guard who can score from anywhere on the court. And they have a coach who is smart enough to realize that defense always comes first. As it currently stands, the Celtics would lose in five games to Chicago.

Yeah, Perkins would have made the Celtics a better defensive unit. But the big man was not a great rebounder and was so inept offensively the team had to play around his deficiencies.

That’s not the problem. The problem lies in the hands and mind of their 25-year-old point guard. And how well he plays from here on out is anyone’s guess.