The Boston Celtics are hanging in there with the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference despite losing star point guard Rajon Rondo. I remember the sad looks on their faces when they heard the news that Rondo tore his ACL and wouldn’t return to the court. Well now he’s returned to the sideline but things have to be a little different.
Rajon Rondo rejoined the Celtics bench last night for the first time since his Feb. 12 ACL surgery, and was told to suppress his normal urge to interrupt timeouts. “I told him to just be nice today, and he was,” said coach Doc Rivers, who drew a connection between the Celts’ spirited play in the 118-107 win over the Hawks and Rondo’s return. “He told us today he was coming in, and it was good to have him back around,” said Rivers. “He’s moving OK. Having gone through that experience, we sat and talked about a lot of the stuff you have to go through. … I don’t care who you are, especially if you’re on a team sport, I think these types of injuries are very lonely. Very hard. Because rehab is all by yourself with some stranger. And you’re away from your team. Just brutal rehab. That’s what it is.” Rondo was also introduced to a lot of new faces.
I know it must be extremely difficult for Rondo to sit on the sidelines and not be able to get in the game and help his team. It’s also just as difficult to not be able to speak up; Rondo is known for being very vocal, sometimes too vocal. It’s unfortunate that we won’t get to see him play for the rest of the year but he’s not only rehabbing he’s also learning a lesson about restraint, something he definitely needs as we’ve seen by his increase in suspensions.
