Fluid Rondo found the flow

Rondo hasn’t been himself since returning from a seven-game absence with a sprained right ankle. The offense has sputtered in the early going. Rondo hasn’t taken command as coach Doc Rivers has repeatedly stressed, and at times Rondo has looked uninterested or bored.

And he looked that way at times yesterday, making silly mistakes, taking some inexplicably poor shots, and refusing to attempt layups. In other stretches, he ran the offense with daring and not precision, taking far too many chances and wasting scoring opportunities against a team that possesses the most explosive scorer of this generation.

The Rondo who orchestrated a masterful second half and enabled the Celtics to pull away in the fourth quarter is the one Rivers adores and trusts. The Rondo who recorded 11 assists and 13 turnovers in his previous two games is the Rondo Rivers has to closely watch.

The one who appears to play mind games with himself, sometimes creating on-court quandaries; making the spectacular play and not the simple one, like a shortstop with too much trust in his cannon arm. Rondo has too much trust in his instincts and ability to thread passes into minuscule creases.

Rondo is the NBA’s best at making the pinpoint pass at the precise moment, but he relies too much on that skill. In the second half yesterday, Rondo made matters simpler for himself and his teammates. Very rarely does Rondo play an entire half, but yesterday he played all 24 minutes and the Celtics shot a mind-boggling 69.4 percent from the floor.

And of the 22 baskets converted by Celtics other than Rondo, 15 were assisted by Rondo, including six of the team’s seven 3-pointers. That means he is moving the ball, delivering passes to sweet spots. That means the Celtics are an offensive machine and Rondo is the commander.

“I told Rondo in front of the team it was one of his best games of the year,’’ Rivers said. “In the fact that I thought he called an absolutely perfect game. He’s our pitcher. I thought he just called a sensational game, coming out of timeouts, making sure guys were in their spots.’’