Rajon Rondo might not have played defense during his last couple of years with the Boston Celtics, but that hardly means he wasn’t bleeding green and gold. In advance of his return to TD Garden on Friday, the Dallas Mavericks point guard praised the entire Celtics organization for everything from his arrival in Bean Town to his departure.
The notoriously mercurial Rondo even suggested the possibility of tears come the inevitably warm reception of the Celtics’ crowd. Clearly, he has no ill-feelings towards the team with which he grew into a star.
Via Chris Forsberg of ESPN:
“[Paul Pierce] just told me to keep blinking when I look up so I don’t cry,” Rondo said on Friday morning as he met with an overflow crowd of reporters after the Dallas Mavericks’ morning shootaround at TD Garden…
“I’ve said it a couple times this past week, I was very grateful to play for a sports organization like the Boston Celtics,” Rondo said. “It starts with Danny [Ainge] and [co-owner] Wyc [Grousbeck] believing in me from Day 1 — [they] traded for me. And then, obviously, the way the fans embraced me since I’ve been here since Day 1, it’s a very humbling experience. I’m glad I got to experience this in my life.”
Later he added: “It’s a great situation [in Dallas], and Danny and Wyc could have sent me anywhere. But I think it showed the class these guys have to send me to an organization where, I’ve done a lot for this organization, and they didn’t just throw me on the back burner, they put me in a situation where I can still excel and obviously win a championship with this caliber team. I’m grateful for that situation.”
So much for reports of offseason tension between Rondo, Ainge, and Grousbeck. Dallas’ floor general has little reason to praise Boston’s higher-ups now that he’s donning a different uniform, but still goes out of his way to laud Ainge and company for helping him reach this point in his career. Classy.
Does that mean Rondo will take it easy on the Cs tonight? No way. Having won three straight games, Dallas is rolling after getting off a to a somewhat rocky start with the ambidextrous maestro in tow. We’re expecting the Mavericks to put on a show in Boston tonight, and Rondo will be leading the way – surely with a series of mind-bending plays that came to define his time as a Celtic.
Dallas and Milwaukee tip-off at 7:30 EST.
What do you think?
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