As in the Costanza household, it appears that hollering has become the default mode of communication between Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle and his intrepid but notoriously-difficult-to-work-with point guard Rajon Rondo.
You’ll recall that the pair had a less-than-genial encounter during a game against the Toronto Raptors last month that earned Rondo a one-game suspension.
It’s been rough terrain for Rondo and the Mavs since his arrival in East Texas, but both he and Carlisle claim they’ve settled their differences, and Rondo has even said he’d like to resign with the Mavs for the long-term. Apparently, that whole yelling incident wasn’t such a big deal after all, considering that Rondo told Tim Cato of Mavs Moneyball that Carlisle has recently been bringing him into his office prior to games and pelting him with questions (and expletives, we’re assuming) at high decibels.
“It’s just coach and I in the room. He’s yelling at me a lot. I try not to crack under pressure and give him what he needs. It’s calling out plays. For example, if I want to get Monta a shot on a pindown [screen], if I want to single ice [isolation], a lot of basketball terminology to make sure we’re on the same page.” Do you yell back the answers? “No, yelling won’t get it. Yelling got me suspended. Yelling got me a bad rap so I’m going to continue to try and have an even keel when we do our tests.”
Maybe this is just the type of unorthodox and/or quasi-sadomasochistic relationship that could yield positive results. For now, Rondo – amazingly – seems to be okay with it. We’ll check back in later to see how that’s going once the Mavs find themselves in a pressure-cooker playoff atmosphere.
