“You have to get easy baskets - you’re not going to win a series when everything is halfcourt, you have to get easy baskets - but then, you have to execute in halfcourt, as well.’’

The Celtics overwhelmed the Sixers by a score of 61-33 in the second and third quarters.

“We made shots yesterday - that helps,’’ Rondo said. “Other games before, we hit lulls where we didn’t score the basketball at all and it carried over defensively. That was one of those nights where we made a lot of shots.’’

When a team’s point guard is on, cause-and-effect comes into play. Teammates are receiving the ball efficiently, in a rhythm, and they have enough space and time to fire away confidently. Average shooters become better-than-average shooters. Pure shooters having an off night all of a sudden are getting dunks and layups.

Rondo made certain to set up Kevin Garnett on the post. Rondo free-lanced, driving off the dribble. He made certain Paul Pierce would get some easy baskets.

“At the beginning of the game, we went inside to Paul, and we went back outside for the next four or five minutes,’’ Rivers said. “Rondo made a good call and went to the post. Anytime we missed a couple shots, we went right back to the post.’’

Rondo’s combination of ball skills, vision, and willpower got the Celtics into their “in-out’’ sets and also flying by the Sixers on fast breaks.

“Whenever you make shots, it makes everything easier,’’ Rivers said. “But we also made a lot of shots off our defensive stops. We got in transition, we were in the paint 60 times. It doesn’t mean we took 60 shots in the paint – sometimes the shots were behind the three or outside the paint - but it led to in-out basketball, and that’s who we are.’’

That means, by Rivers’s reckoning, the Celtics were able to take the ball inside on about 60 percent of their possessions, an overwhelming amount.