Doc Rivers disputes the notion that Parker guarding Rondo had any negative effect on the Celtics. (WEEI)

“Honestly, it didn’t really affect us much,” Rivers said. “I thought Rondo’s fourth foul affected Rondo far more than Parker guarding Rondo. I think Rondo likes that matchup in a lot of ways. But that’s what you do. That’s what teams do. That’s what I would do. It’s always better to put a longer guy on a quicker guy. We actually thought it would be LeBron more.”

I’m with Rivers here. It’s not like Rondo disappeared in the second half; he had 8 points and 4 assists. We can’t expect him to score 19 points and notch 8 assists (his totals in the first half of Game One) every half, can we? It was more that the Celtics didn’t get stops, so Rondo couldn’t demonstrate his open-court brilliance as often. Believe me, it wasn’t Anthony Parker’s stunning speed or mind-boggling length that slowed Rondo down.

The Celtics are also in agreement that they need to be tougher in Game Two.

“We do have to be more physical,” Kendrick Perkins said. “We have to take it to them tonight. We have to be the more physical team. Last game they were, so tonight we just got to go out there and do what we got to do to get the win.”

And, uh, Mike Brown thinks Shaq’s Game One takedown of Rajon Rondo wasn’t a foul.  Brown actually sent tape of the play to the league office for review.

Perhaps the light was shining off Doc Rivers’ ring and into Brown’s eyes?