Rondo, Allen eye fresh starts

After some initial problems, Rajon Rondo is hoping to get untracked tonight. (Jim Davis/Globe Staff)

CLEVELAND - They refer to it as "The Flow."

When things are going smoothly for a basketball team - its suffocating defense leading to easy baskets - it is said the team is playing not so much with a certain flair as it is with a certain flow.

In a humiliating 108-84 setback to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 3 Saturday night, the Celtics stumbled out of the gate because they displayed neither flair nor flow in either offense or defense.

No one felt that more than Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo, both of whom have struggled in this series. In Game 1, Allen went scoreless for the first time since 1997 after going 0 for 4 from the field. In Game 2, Rondo went 0 for 6 from the field, but he still made all of his foul shots to score 7 points.

The upside, though, was that the Celtics managed to overcome their backcourt deficiencies to win both games.

In Game 3, neither Allen nor Rondo felt very much into the flow of anything after they combined to score 17 points on 7-for-22 shooting to go along with four assists. It was little wonder why the Cavaliers were able to jump on the Celtics from the opening tap, streaking to a 10-point lead (14-4) that grew to a whopping 19 points (32-13) by the end of the first quarter.

Ballgame.

Afterward, Rondo vowed to take on more of an offensive burden.

"At the start of the game, I probably need to be more aggressive in transition, but I think it starts with defense. We need to get more stops in order to start the transition break," he said.

Shortly after he wrapped up extra shooting following the Celtics' practice yesterday at Quicken Loans Arena, Rondo met with the media and was reminded of his statement. Did he still feel compelled to take on more of an offensive burden?

"Yeah, but it starts on defense," Rondo said. "In order for me to be aggressive, we've got to get stops on the defensive end. Every time they missed a shot, they got an offensive rebound and kicked it out and got a wide-open look. So, basically, it's just about defense for us."

From that, it is hoped, the offense will be free to flow in transition. And vice versa.

"Sometimes our offense dictates our defense," Rondo said. "When we get off to slow starts, and we don't make a rotation on defense, we don't make the extra effort - the second and third effort - to contest shots and it just trickles down, especially on the road."

And so, in Game 4 tonight at The Q, "It'll definitely begin with the defense - from the start," Rondo vowed.

But coach Doc Rivers didn't want Rondo to feel as though it all rested on his shoulders.

"I just think we need to stay within ourselves and not feel the pressure of having to do more," Rivers said. "I think that's what gets you in trouble at times. Rajon has to play better and be more physical and I think it puts more pressure on the defensive end. His speed should be a factor on the defensive end, but the other stuff will come."

Was it the same for Allen? "Yeah," Rivers said. "He had a great look to start on the first play of the game, a wide-open elbow shot. Those will fall for Ray, eventually. I'm not that concerned by that.

"On the other hand, we can't let Wally [Szczerbiak] get going. Everything we live through is on the defensive end and the offense will come."

If the Celtics succeed in that endeavor, their offense likely will come in the natural flow of the game.

"In games we've lost, all year, we haven't created a flow on offense and it's put pressure on our defense," Allen said. "Creating the flow on offense, whether we get to the rack and make the extra pass back out and get the easy jump shot, you swing the ball from one side of the floor to the other and you penetrate and then you swing it again and you get the easy shot.

"That's the shots our offense needs, because we have so many great shooters and we have so many great individual offensive players that when we do that, it tires their defense out. It takes a little bit of energy away from 'em. It sucks the wind out of 'em. It's important we continue to do that, and that's how we have to start games."