Rajon Rondo walked to the far corner of the Celtics practice facility and sat on an exercise bike, at once inviting attention and doing nothing to court it. The media horde took note and began creeping toward him in the same way someone curious might approach an exotic bird, hoping not to spook it before it takes flight.

Rondo made no sign of movement and so the pack advanced closer. He was both oblivious and obvious. Soon they surrounded him on all sides stacked five deep while he nonchalantly pedaled. A plastic tub filled with foam rollers kept the mob at a distance. Per his instructions, the tub was not moved. The whole setup was a little weird, even by Rondo’s sublimely peculiar standards.

For seven minutes, Rondo artfully batted away every single query without so much as a hint of insight or a moment of self-reflection. He wasn’t about to provide the standard gruel for the masses. Covering himself in a blanket of useful quotes is not his style and besides, there is only one question that really matters and it’s not one he can plausibly answer yet: Which Rondo will show up for the playoffs?

Will it be the daring risk-taker who so effortlessly darts and dodges defenders on his way to the basket, or will it be the passive-aggressive Rondo who hangs out on the perimeter armed with only his inconsistent jump shot as his sole means of attack.

As they enter the postseason the Celtics are surrounded by questions: Will Shaquille O'Neal be able to play? Can Jermaine O’Neal’s body hold together? Can Jeff Green carve out a significant role? Does the big three have enough left in reserve for one more push?

But without the good version of Rondo, none of that really matters. When he plays well, he is capable of lifting them into another dimension and when he doesn’t, they become exceptionally ordinary. They have learned to live with this over the years because Rondo at his best is unlike anyone else in the league.

“There will be six Hall of Famers in this series, maybe more,” team president Danny Ainge said in an interview with WEEI's Big Show this week. “All those guys in a star-studded game, there will be a game or two where he will be the best player in the gym. That's how Rondo is. Then there will be games where the pace is slower. It's not just his will, sometimes that's how the game goes.”

For all the hand-wringing over the Kendrick Perkins trade and what his absence means for their defense and those elusive intangibles he supposedly took with him to Oklahoma City, the Celtics struggled down the stretch primarily because their offense slowed down to a crawl and became stagnant.

Without tempo, their halfcourt offense is slow death. They don’t run a lot of isolations. They don’t have a dominant post player. The Celtics are an odd mix offensively in that they want to play fast, but they are not a running team.

There are two components of this philosophy. First, they need to get stops on the defensive end – multiple stops as they like to say – and then run when the advantage is there. That means getting the ball to Rondo and allowing him the space to create. From there all good things flow.

“We always want to get the ball in Rondo’s hands and push the ball,” Paul Pierce said. “Try to use his speed, especially in the open court. That’s always the game plan night in, night out.” 

The second part is that coach Doc Rivers wants them to get into their offense quicker. They need to work their patterns and take advantage of their greatest team strength – their willingness to pass the ball. That takes time, and too often these last few months they have been wasting precious seconds off the clock by standing still when they should be moving, which has ultimately left them forcing contested jump shots.

“As far as speed, that’s the whole team all the time,” Rivers said. “When I say speed I don’t mean just running. The entire team, we can’t get into sets with nine [seconds] on the clock. We’ve got to get into our stuff.” 

This isn’t all on Rondo. The Celtics need to set better screens, cut harder and make better decisions. And yet it all comes back to him. For eight long games between March 6 and the 19th, he failed to record a double-digit assist game, his longest stretch since the 2008 season.

They scored less than 90 points in seven of those games and lost four of them. He finally broke that string against the Knicks, coincidentally, and for the rest of the season he drifted between brilliant and average with little room in between. The rest of the Celtics followed his lead.

As to why this happened, the theories are numerous. Ainge provided a few of his own: “I think he's tired. I think he lost some confidence. I think he was pacing himself because his hand was sore and his feet were sore. The bottom line, let's just wait and see what Rondo we see now. Let's not worry about what Rondo was playing in Indianapolis in the middle of March.”

Rivers has called Rondo the smartest player he’s ever coached. “He sees things I don’t see and never would have been able to see,” he said after the Celtics beat Miami in early February in what was one of the last high points of the regular season.

Carlos Arroyo calls it a gift; this ability to view the court in Rondo’s own ingenious manner. “He has an IQ for the game,” Arroyo said. “That’s something you definitely admire about him. He knows how to play the game. He finds guys. He has that vision. In that sense he’s truly blessed to be able to see the floor the way he sees it.”

Rondo offered perhaps the most honest critique of his game after an early April game against Philadelphia. “I’ve got to make the simple pass but at the same time I’m a risk taker,” he said. “I try to make plays for my teammates. Whether it’s a behind the back pass or a regular bounce pass, any way I’m able to do that the best way is what I do.”

That’s the frustrating thing about creativity. When it manifests itself it is a wonder to behold and when it doesn’t, or is forced, you’re left waiting and wanting. For all his ability, Rondo is not a solo artist. He needs the rhythm section to keep the beat. Without that structure, it’s just so many notes filling space without rhyme or reason.

This can’t all be about one player if the Celtics are going to get where they want to go, but without Rondo – the good Rondo – they are merely marking time.