BOSTON - Rajon Rondo went down hard on a play late in the third quarter and had to leave the game with what was later confirmed as a sore right wrist. Rondo told the media that he is day-to-day with the injury.
The injury occurred when Rondo was fouled by Linas Kleiza driving to the basket with 2:12 to go in the quarter. Rondo landed hard on his right arm and wrist and stayed on the floor for several minutes before being helped up. Rondo actually stayed in the game to shoot the two technical free throws, as Kleiza was issued a flagrant one foul.
"I tried to brace my fall and I put my arm behind my bottom and just landed on my wrist and elbow," said Rondo, who scored 21 points. "It's day-to-day, we'll see how I feel tomorrow. I took a couple Advil and I'm sure I'll be ok."
As Rondo lay motionless on the floor, the TD Garden crowd was naturally quiet. At first, some weren't sure of what to make of what they had just seen, including Doc Rivers, who was actually thought Rondo was trying to get a foul call.
"Honestly, I was laughing right afterwards. I wasn't (concerned) at first because I thought he was trying to get the flagrant. I thought he was laying down, trying to - you know. And then when he stayed down then I was concerned. But I didn't know what it was. And then when I saw him grabbing his arm or hand I was thinking 'last year, playoffs' obviously."
Rondo's performance was one of his better ones this season, at least from an scoring standpoint. Rondo made 7-of-8 field goals and had three rebounds but just two assists.
"He was really aggressive offensively and that's what we needed out of him," Rivers said. "We had a little goal offensively which we didn't reach but it was close. We had the one bad quarter and you could tell he was looking, he was trying to keep getting to that number there we established. It was funny, you look at the stats at halftime - Rondo had [15] points and Paul [Pierce] had six assists and Rondo had none. And so it was really interesting. But the ball movement was terrific in the same right."
Rondo has one day to prepare for the Phoenix Suns, who the Celtics will host on Friday.
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