Rajon Rondo took the train to the Celtics’ home opener, and then destroyed the Nets (Photo)
I lived in Boston for just under five years. While I miss a great many things about it — the friends I made and left behind there, the heartwarming squalor of the Allston neighborhood where we lived, a stroll through the Common on a sunny spring day, the unexpected pleasure cruise that is riding the B Line after all the college kids have moved home for the summer, Kelly’s Roast Beef, etc. — I do not miss driving in Boston. It is a city full of blind alleys, shifting-sands street signage, seemingly perpetual construction work and Big Dig-legacy detours, an ancient place built for walking that takes on the character of a border-to-border high-alert anxiety attack during rush hour, especially when you’re trying to move around thickly populated areas like the one surrounding TD Garden, where the Boston Celtics play basketball.
[Yahoo Sports Fantasy Basketball: Sign up and join a league today!]
There is, happily, an alternative solution to the problem of driving to Celtics games — taking the MBTA to North Station, easily accessible by the city’s Orange and Green Lines and several Commuter Rail lines from the suburbs, and located directly beneath the Garden. While the standard subway-related caveats apply — delays, overcrowding, etc. — it does provide a traffic-free path to the TD Garden. It’s how I got to the Garden when I’d go to games, and apparently, it’s how Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo got there on Wednesday:
Not that the forever inscrutable triggerman wanted to cop to his environmentally friendly commute, according to Brian Robb of Boston.com:
Before the game, a reporter inquired to Rondo about his travel habits to the Celtics opener. At first, the point guard wasn’t exactly forthcoming, but Rondo changed his tune when presented with the evidence. Here’s the full back and forth between the two.
Reporter: Did you ride the T to the game?
Rondo: No.
Reporter: There was a picture of you on the T.
Rondo: Oh, is that right? Then why did you ask me that question? You are giving away my transportation to the game, man!
Rondo joins such public-transit advocates as Metta World Peace and Dwane Casey — and, considering how nasty that midday drive can be, it’s kind of stunning that more big-city athletes don’t do this more often. (Not necessarily those as high-profile as Rondo, though. You can understand him not wanting to get mobbed by fans on the platform, after all.)
Not quite so stunning, but still a bit surprising: Rondo’s appearance in the Celtics’ opening-night starting lineup against the Brooklyn Nets, just over a month after suffering a broken bone in his right hand that was initially expected to keep him out for six weeks. Not only did Rondo suit up, he shined, scoring 13 points on 6 for 9 shooting, dishing 12 assists, snagging seven rebounds and adding a steal and a block in 30 minutes of work to lead the sharp-looking Celtics to a 121-105 win over the visiting Nets.
As strong as the stat line was, it didn’t quite do justice to how summarily Rondo commanded the game, writes longtime Rondo scribe Paul Flannery of SB Nation:
“Rondo was classic,” said his old teammate, Kevin Garnett. “I don’t know what he said, he was at 83 percent? That was a hell of an 83 percent.”
Everything about Rondo’s game was vintage. […] if the game wasn’t such a rout he undoubtedly would have found a way to get those three extra rebounds and a triple double. That’s not a knock, by the way. It’s a reflection of how Rondo controlled every aspect of the game when he was on the floor, just like the old days.
“He kind of looks like what I’d seen on film before I got here,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “I don’t think he ever looked like that at any time last year, because he was coming back. And that’s just the way it goes with that injury, but he is back to full speed.”
It’s easier to get back to full speed when you’re not stuck in traffic, after all.
Hat-tip to Dan Feldman at ProBasketballTalk.
More NBA coverage:
– – – – – – –
Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
Stay connected with Ball Don’t Lie on Twitter @YahooBDL, “Like” BDL on Facebook and follow BDL’s Tumblr for year-round NBA talk, jokes and more.
