Just no guarding against Rondo

But Rajon Rondo took charge of the reserves, leading the Celtics to a 91-88 win over the New Jersey Nets in an exhibition last night. Daniels missed the second half and Wallace was injured early in the third quarter.

Both said they expect to play against Toronto in Hartford tonight.

Rondo had 18 points and 13 assists in 40 minutes.

“He wanted to stay in, he begged to stay in,’’ coach Doc Rivers said of Rondo. “I said good, go ahead, let’s do it. [Rondo said] ‘I want to see if I can bring them back.’ And he did it.’’

Eddie House’s jumper gave the Celtics an 89-88 lead with 32 seconds remaining, then he drew a charge to give Boston possession with 16.7 seconds left.

Rondo increased the edge to 2 points with a free throw, then Glen Davis rebounded Rondo’s missed foul shot and was fouled, hitting one free throw. Courtney Lee missed a 3-pointer, Rondo grabbing the rebound just before the final buzzer.

“He really wants it,’’ Rivers said of Rondo. “We knew that before. But the difference this year is he is doing it all the right way. He’s leading, he’s not gambling on defense, he’s executing offensively.

“The play we drew up to get Eddie that shot, that was Rondo, his execution led to that shot. Those are the things a lot of young players don’t get.’’

Said Rondo: “I just wanted to win. It doesn’t matter, preseason, to me. You still want to win; you don’t put on the uniform to lose. I just don’t want to give any team confidence. I wanted to win, regardless if it was a preseason game or not.

“I thought J.R. was unbelievable with his energy,’’ Rivers said. “He didn’t score a lot but, defensively, and rebounds, and he just kept a lot of things alive.

“That’s his role on this team. He’s not going to be a scorer. But he can be a defender. And if wants to buy into that role there can be minutes for him.’’

“When you play with a high caliber team, whose goals are higher than other teams in the NBA, when you play with teams that want that hardware, then, yes, those records can be broken,’’ he said. “But I think we can get that 72. If we overcome injuries, I think we can get it. Just imagine if guys didn’t get hurt [last season], they definitely could have gotten it. That’s what we’re shooting for this year.’’

Wallace said he hoped to play against Toronto, but “It’s up to Doc. I came down on [Brook] Lopez’s or [Eduardo] Najera’s foot, just normal stuff.’’

Wallace on the Celtics’ comeback from a 14-point deficit: “One word - perseverance. We were down 15 or 16 and cats still went out there and played.’’