Rajon Rondo managed to extend his consecutive streak of 10 or more assists to 34 games. Perhaps down the road it won’t matter that Rondo needed until 51 seconds left Sunday at the Palace of Auburn Hills to reach his 10th assist.

And maybe it won’t matter that the Celtics were trailing by 21 at the time, making it apparent that Rondo was on the court for the express purpose of extending the streak. Assistant coach Mike Longabardi asked the Celtics broadcasting team of Mike Gorman and Tommy Heinsohn early in the fourth quarter how many assists Rondo had. The answer was six. So coach Doc Rivers reinserted Rondo with 8:40 left in the fourth quarter and the Celtics trailing, 79-65. He played 8:24 before leaving with 16.1 left, having reached the mark. Rivers freely admitted after a listless performance in his team’s 103-83 loss, the primary goal was to extend the streak.

“Yeah, why not?” River said. “You guys keep talking about [the streak]. I figured I’d give him a shot at it.”

via Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe