Rondo Triple-Double Leads Celtics Over Bulls

After stumbling in their last two games, the Celtics responded yesterday with a much-needed win on national television over the Chicago Bulls. Even though the latter was playing without MVP guard Derrick Rose, this was still a big win for the Celtics, who were without a couple of key cogs of their own. The 95-91 win was paced by Rajon Rondo, who put in 32 points, dished off 15 assists and pulled down 10 rebounds.

Rondo a-Rose to clatter – Steve Bulpett looks at Rondo’s performance, and has Chicago’s C.J. Watson, who defended him much of the afternoon saying of the task: “It wasn’t really difficult.” Peter May has Rondo coming up back after a pair of subpar games. Paul Flannery looks at the conundrum that is Rondo. A Sherrod Blakely says that even though Rondo wasn’t speaking after the game, his teammates had plenty to say. Christopher Smith wonders if attitude is all that is holding Rondo back.

Johnson picks up play to help lift Celtics – Jessica Camerato has rookie JaJuan Johnson stepping in with 12 points off the bench yesterday. Frank Dell’Apa has more on the first round pick seeing his most extensive action of the season.

Postgame notes: Wilcox starting to click – Chris Forsberg’s notebook has Chris Wilcox getting the start at center, and benefiting from the fast break pace of Rondo. The Herald notebook from Mark Murphy has more on the contributions of Wilcox and Johnson in the absence of Jermaine O’Neal and Brandon Bass. The Enterprise notebook from Jim Fenton also looks at the pair of forwards. The Globe notebook from Gary Washburn has more on the absence of Rose.

For Bobby V, full blast is the only way to go – Scott Lauber has the Red Sox new manager fired up for the season to start.

How new Red Sox Cody Ross is putting an uneasy offseason in the rear-view mirror – Rob Bradford with a look at the new outfielder.

Fiercest challenges await champs – Stephen Harris says that we’re likely to see a lot of games like Saturday’s coming up for the Bruins.

Wide receiver wish list has Patriots fans aflutter – Tom E Curran looks at the list of veteran receivers available, including Reggie Wayne, Brandon Lloyd and Marques Colston. (Even though Lloyd has stated he wanted to follow Josh McDaniels, his signing with agent Tom Condon likely puts an end to that notion.)

How good can linebacker Rob Ninkovich become? – Nick Underhill wonders if the linebacker still has room to grow.