Heading into their matchup with the No. 1 seeded Boston Celtics in the opening round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs, the eighth seeded Chicago Bulls had nothing to lose as the major underdog.However, after two games, they have a 2-0 lead and now seemingly have everything to gain.One of the main reasons behind their two upset wins has been the play of point guard Rajon Rondo.Coming off of a Game 1 performance in which he posted 12 points, eight rebounds six assists, a block and two steals over 27 minutes, he turned in a vintage performance in Game 2, nearly posting a triple-double with 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting along with nine rebounds, 14 assists and five steals over 40 dominant minutes in the 111-97 victory.As you can imagine, not many players in Bulls franchise history have recorded 10 assists and five steals in a playoff game. In fact, only one has, and you might recognize his name.

That’s right. Rondo and MJ are the only two Chicago players to have such a game over the last 30 years.

Not bad company, huh?

While Rondo’s time in the NBA following his long tenure with the Celtics can best be described as tumultuous, he is now back in the groove, despite being benched multiple times during the regular season by coach Fred Hoiberg.

There was nothing that prompted Hoiberg to bench Rondo in Game 2, as he sat for a grand total of just eight minutes on the night.

This was the first time Rondo had 10 assists in a playoff game since Game 7 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals. Of course, he was a member of Boston’s roster for that one.

To further prove that he’s in a class of his own in terms of producing unique stat lines, consider the following.

Noting the number of All-Stars and future Hall of Famers to enjoy playoff runs since then, that’s pretty remarkable.

To put his performance into perspective, it’s important to realize that he had the same number of assists as the entire Celtics starting lineup combined and more steals alone than the opposing starting lineup, among a couple other interesting tidbits.

He was simply playing at a higher level than the entire Celtics team.

Game 3 will be in Chicago on Friday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00pm EST. If Rondo delivers a similar performance, the eighth seed will likely improve to a 3-0 advantage in the series, which would spell serious trouble for his former team.