Silent treatment: Rajon Rondo ejected after staring down ref in Kings’ loss to Celtics
Looks can’t kill, but as it turns out, they can get you an early trip to the showers.
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Sacramento Kings point guard Rajon Rondo found that out the hard way on Thursday night, after his silent and stonefaced eyeballing of referee Bill Kennedy earned him a second technical foul and an automatic ejection midway through the third quarter of his current employer’s meeting with his former squad, the Boston Celtics, in Mexico City as part of the NBA’s ongoing Global Games initiative.
The heave-ho wasn’t just about the ice-grilling, of course; as ever, clouds have to gather before the rain starts falling.
The quiet-storm quickening came about in the context of a game in which the Celtics had leapt all over Sacramento from the opening tip, shooting 50 percent from the floor in the opening frame while holding the Kings to a dismal 7-for-24 mark to roll up a 15-point lead after 12 minutes. Even without lead evening-ruiner Marcus Smart, still sidelined by a “lower left leg injury,” a Celtics backcourt led by former teammate Avery Bradley harassed and pressured Rondo into four turnovers and held him to 2-for-6 shooting, helping disrupt the rhythm that Rondo had developed in averaging a shade under 14 points, 13 assists and 7.5 rebounds per game over the past 10 contests, suggesting a rediscovery of the thought-to-be-long-lost All-Star form Rondo flashed in Boston that reportedly has some executives contemplating maximum contract offers for the soon-to-be-30-year-old triggerman in free agency this summer.
“The main thing tonight was just to make it hard for Rondo,” Bradley said after the game, according to Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald. “I wanted to make everything uncomfortable for him. I wanted to make him shoot and have him always thinking. It was almost like he had nowhere to pass the ball tonight because we were playing such good defense.”
With Boston’s top-flight D (third in the NBA in points allowed per possession, per NBA.com’s stat tool, and tops in turning opponents over) chopping and screwing Rondo’s flow, Sacramento got behind the 8-ball early and stayed there, with the Celtics’ lead reaching 22 on a Bradley triple with just over seven minutes remaining in the third quarter. On the next Boston possession, Celtics swingman Jae Crowder drew a foul on Kings center DeMarcus Cousins with which Rondo did not agree. The point guard pleaded his case with Kennedy, and apparently did so a bit too forcefully for the official’s liking, as Kennedy T’d him up. Rondo did not appreciate that; hence the thousand-yard stare, and hence Kennedy’s doubling-down, which sent Rondo packing … but not before he offered a decidedly unsilent rejoinder.
Hey, if you’re going to have to pay the fines for two technicals, you might as well get your money’s worth on the way out the door.
Rondo finished with five points, eight assists, three rebounds and two steals in 24 minutes of playing time. The Kings offered precious little resistance thereafter in what Tony Xypteras of Kings blog Sactown Royalty called a performance “so uninspired, so alarming from an effort standpoint that I’d feel even worse about the Kings if they don’t do something about it,” as Boston cruised to a 114-97 win behind 20-point scoring nights from Bradley, Crowder, former King Isaiah Thomas and Kelly Olynyk. After the game, Kings coach George Karl identified Sacramento’s poor start as the primary culprit behind his club’s third loss in four games, but did lament losing his lead guard before the stretch run.
“It put a punch on our ability to have a comeback,” Karl said after the game, according to Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee. “Rajon’s been our motor; he’s been our engine.”
Sometimes, though, engines stall out. When they do, it can be awful tough to get all the way home … and it’s a long way from Mexico City to Sacramento.
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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!
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