"People want to find a crack, a little sliver in his game ... The kid is a Hall of Fame player, this is a great record and people should stop the nonsense and we should stop propagating this thing."

-- Tommy Heinsohn

"You were down by 17 with two minutes to go. Your perspective is about winning the game. That turned to getting Rondo another assist. I talked to Doc Rivers on the plane about it. Celtics have made a great comment about one thing they've always said -- 'I am a Celtic. I am a Celtic'. And this is a motto, this is a slogan that they use. Well, that's not the Celtic way."

-- Cedric Maxwell 

This is perfect.

Rajon Rondo has become the most divisive player in this city, for some reasons that are legitimate and some that are not. Let's get the obvious out of the way -- if Rajon Rondo looked like John Stockton the perception of him around here would be drastically different, you'd hear the word "scrappy" a lot more and "aloof" a lot less. 

Understanding all of that -- and understanding there have been legitimate reasons to be critical of Rondo, most recently his immature, selfish and indefensible chest-bump of referee Marc Davis that (correctly) earned him a suspension in last season's playoffs -- it only makes sense that Rondo is in the middle of a semi-storm as he chases a record that presumably celebrates unselfishness. 

I'll be the first to admit, until maybe a couple of weeks ago, I had no idea that Magic Johnson held the NBA record with 47 consecutive (regular season) games with at least 10 assists. Neither did you, Doc Rivers, Rajon Rondo, Tommy Heinsohn, Cedric Maxwell or Magic Johnson. 

OK, it's not exactly Joe DiMaggios's 56-gamer, Cal Ripken's 2,632 straight games played or Edwin Moses winning 122 400-meter hurdles races in a row when you put together the pantheon of streaks, but it's been an impressive run for Rondo, who will probably extend the total to 38 (and pass John Stockton for second all time) on Wednesday against the Nets.  

And the lines have been drawn. There are those who care about the streak and those who mock it. And the latter were given all the fodder they needed on November 19, as Rivers left Rondo in down 20 points late in the fourth quarter to extend the streak (which was reached when Jared Sullinger hit a 21-foot jumper with 51 seconds left).

This was shark-jumping time (I should mention that the phrase "jump the shark" has jumped the shark, but mentioning that the phrase has jumped the shark has also jumped the shark) for the anti-streak crowd. It was now inorganic at best and dangerous at worst, as Rivers risked his most valuable player solely to continue something that is essentially meaningless in the big picture for this team.

And I recognize that sentiment, I really do. The reward is nowhere close to the risk. Is it likely that Rajon Rondo is going to blow out his ACL in those five minutes? Nope, but I know he wouldn't on the bench, which is where he should have been in that situation. But I'm sure Rondo wants this record badly and that's exactly why Doc Rivers left him in the game -- this is 2012 and reality is you have to keep the stars happy. It's a major reason why Tom Brady stays in these games a lot longer than he should. So Rondo got that 10th assist and a controversy (kind of) was born.

Listening to sports radio and reading blogs and columns and watching the endless debates on endless debate TV shows it strikes me that the younger folks are into the streak and the older crew mocks it. But it's not really the streak, is it? It's just taking sides on Rondo himself. Since it became clear a couple of years ago that Rondo was going to be a terrific player in this league he's been smack in the middle of a generational divide. 

Rondo is never going to be cuddly, he's not particularly interested in winning anyone over or landing national commercials that show him making his kids breakfast in a desperate attempt to seem likable. What's ironic, I suppose, about that is this: Rondo is almost exactly like Larry Bird (the benchmark for all that was right for any fan over the age of, say, 35) in that regard. Bird didn't care about making sure he crafted an appropriate message to the media and had zero interest in cultivating friendships with opponents (the Magic stuff was all Act III of Bird's career). Same goes for Rondo. Of all the athletes under the age of 30 in this city Rondo is closest to fitting the definition of old school. The presentation is the problem.  

Here's the thing that matters to those who care about this streak: It's something that separates Rondo from the other elite point guards. The streak is something to point at when measuring Rondo against Paul and Williams and Rose and Westbrook. For those who believe Rondo is the best point guard in the NBA (and that is a perfectly legitimate stance) this is something to beef up the case, some validation that maybe hasn't been tangible in years past.

I'll never get next to the steak simply because it's too new. It just showed up all of the sudden -- I need some history for it to resonate. I suspect, though, that Rondo will break it and that's swell for him. He's on an absolutely absurd tear right now, just look at the stats for a second. Rondo leads the NBA with 13.7 assists per game, Paul is second at 9.5. The difference between first and second is the same as the difference between second and 26th (George Hill). Rondo has 178 assists this season, most in the league by 53. Jeff Teague is ninth in the league in assists and Brandon Jennings is 10th and combined they have four fewer assists than Rondo.

Point is, it wouldn't have mattered if Rondo had finished with eight assists instead of 11 on November 2nd against the Bucks, or six instead of 12 last April 7th against the Pacers. And it won't really matter if he breaks this record or he doesn't. 

What is clear is this: Rondo is the best player on the Celtics, one of the two or three best point guards on the planet and (if he stays healthy) will be an MVP candidate for years. This is finally and indisputably his team and he is going nowhere for a long time. 

And like it or not, the chase to 48 continues Wednesday night.