Greg Payne kinda called out Rondo the other day so I'm gonna kinda call out Greg today. I think the real Rondo stood up yesterday. Via the Globe.
But Rajon Rondo took charge of the reserves, leading the Celtics to a 91-88 win over the New Jersey Nets in an exhibition last night. Daniels missed the second half and Wallace was injured early in the third quarter.
Both said they expect to play against Toronto in Hartford tonight.
Rondo had 18 points and 13 assists in 40 minutes.
"He wanted to stay in, he begged to stay in,'' coach Doc Rivers said of Rondo. "I said good, go ahead, let's do it. [Rondo said] ‘I want to see if I can bring them back.' And he did it.''
I kid cause I care, but the bottom line is that it is very early in this process. Hard to make too many judgments positive or negative at this point. But it is nice to see that Rondo wants it. More quotes from Doc after the break.
"He really wants it,'' Rivers said of Rondo. "We knew that before. But the difference this year is he is doing it all the right way. He's leading, he's not gambling on defense, he's executing offensively.
"The play we drew up to get Eddie that shot, that was Rondo, his execution led to that shot. Those are the things a lot of young players don't get.''
Said Rondo: "I just wanted to win. It doesn't matter, preseason, to me. You still want to win; you don't put on the uniform to lose. I just don't want to give any team confidence. I wanted to win, regardless if it was a preseason game or not.