On a night when David Stern handed LeBron James his second MVP trophy, another coronation took place at Quicken Loans Arena.

Yes, when the Celtics need a basket, Paul Pierce still is option No. 1.

Yes, Kevin Garnett still is the emotional leader of the team.

Yes, Ray Allen still can carry the Celtics and remains fully capable of scoring 20 points in a half.

All of these things are true.

But what is also true is this:

The Boston Celtics now are Rajon Rondo's team.

In a series with five no-doubt Hall of Fame locks on the floor, it is Rondo who has easily been the best player in the first two games of the Eastern Conference semifinal battle between the Cavaliers and Celtics. The point guard followed up his 27-point, 12-assist Game 1 performance with a franchise playoff record-matching 19-assist effort in the Game 2 Celtics win.

"He was great," Doc Rivers said after the game. "He just had a great floor game. That's the second one in the playoffs where I would call him [Jason] Varitek."

Rondo quickly is becoming the breakout star of the 2010 playoffs. I think, even after last year's postseason and this year's All-Star season that the national pulse on Rondo was just a little off. Maybe his game is a little too quirky to understand if you only get a look every six weeks or so. Chris Paul is better casting if you want the classic point guard. 

But Chris Paul is laughing it up with Charles and Kenny right now while Rondo is taking control of his team and this series.

It's tricky to call this "Rondo's Team" in the traditional NBA sense. He'll never be the "Give him the ball and get out of his way" guy that Larry Bird, Michael Jordan or even Pierce is with 10 seconds left and your team down a point.

But what he has become is the one player that the Celtics cannot live without. Think about it. They have proven that they can win (on the road, even) without Garnett. They started out 26-5 with Allen struggling. And an off-night from Pierce (as many field goals as turnovers in Game 2 -- four) doesn't mean that the Celtics can't put up a 25-point lead against the team with the best regular season record in the NBA.

Now stop and ask yourself if the Celtics do any of those if Rondo is not playing or playing poorly. 

The Cavaliers have no answer for Rondo. For the first seven quarters of this series (don't worry -- we'll get to a fourth quarter that was this close to at least starting to have the whiff of a possible epic collapse) he has been able to get to the basket at will. And as good as he was in Game 1, he was even better Monday night. 

How dominant a figure was Rondo in Game 2? At the 2:50 mark in the second quarter he already had 10 assists. The other players in the game had 14 assists combined. 

And he was the driving force behind the best quarter of basketball the Celtics have played since Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals, handing out eight more assists as the Celtics outscored the Cavs 31-12 and (we thought) pretty much put the game away. 

It was, for 36 minutes, the Rajon Rondo Show. The ball was in his hands and good things were happening. That's how it goes when a point guard can penetrate at will. A buffet of wide-open jumpers and easy dunks. Rasheed Wallace (who maybe is one more big game away from being square with the fans -- that's how fast it happens) can thank Rondo if Monday was indeed the start of his redemption tour. 

The only problem is that Doc Rivers and Paul Pierce haven't quite signed on to the idea that this team is best served if Rondo is behind the wheel.

The fourth quarter of Game 2 featured all the stuff that you didn't see in the first 36 minutes. Meaning, the offense stopped running through Rondo and reverted back to Pierce trying to do the Teen Wolf thing while the other four guys stood around and watched. The Celtics got away with it on Monday (a 25-point cushion helps) but I'm not sure how many double-digit leads are going to vanish before Doc realizes that muting the very things that get you that lead might not be the best way to close it out.

But, hey, transition is tough. Pierce is an institution for the Celtics. Larry never really handed over Alpha Dog rights to Reggie Lewis. 

And it wasn't supposed to be Rondo. He was always going to be the guy behind the guy. He couldn't shoot. Had a lousy attitude. Didn't respect the veterans. Tuned Doc out. Remember, he was going to be traded for Rodney Stuckey and Rip Hamilton (with Ray Allen -- think the Celtics would be in this spot had they made that move?) This can't be the next guy in line, right? And right now?

I'll cop to being dead wrong about Rondo. Time to confess a hoop sin. I thought he a product of the Big Three* and would never be more than that. Well, now he makes those guys better. If you had told me in 2008 that Allen/Pierce/Garnett would still be on the Celtics -- and still productive -- in 2010 but Rondo would be the most valuable player on the team, I swear I wouldn't recognize what language you were speaking.

But it has happened, even if Pierce doesn't want to believe it. 

The Boston Celtics now are Rajon Rondo's team.

They go as far as he takes them.