What impact does Rajon Rondo´s Injury have on the Celtics and Will they make the Playoffs
On January 27th, the Boston Celtics got dreaded news that had been heard by both the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves over the past year and a half. That news of course is the terrible news that All Star PG Rajon Rondo tore his ACL against the Atlanta Hawks on Friday January 25th. I was personally at the Heat-Celtics 2OT thrilla, which the Celtics won without their star PG, but when the news was announced by ESPN during the game an enormous hush of sadness rolled through the Boston crowd. Earlier that afternoon prior to the Celtics’ tip with the Heat, Rondo was given the bad news at a Boston area hospital. The Celtics had been up and down prior to losing Rondo. Heading into the January 27th game against the Heat, the C´s had lost their last 6 games. However since the Rondo injury, the Celtics have gone 4-0, with statement game wins against both the Heat and the Clippers and W´s against both the lowly Kings and Magic. The Celtics for their part have been streaky all season having won 6 games January 4th-January 14th only to go the entire week and 2 days of January 18th-January 27th losing six in a row.
Part of the reason why the Celtics have struggled so mightily this season is due to the fact that they added 6 new players to their 15 man roster. The C´s made nice offseason additions in SG Jason Terry, SG/PG Leandro Barbosa, SG Courtney Lee, Rookie PF Jared Sullinger, Rookie C Fab Melo, and a decent back up C pick up in veteran Jason Collins. It takes time for these kind of pieces to find chemistry together out on the court. Additionally studs SF/PF Jeff Green and PG/SG Avery Bradley have come back this season from the major injuries of heart surgery and dual shoulder surgery in Bradley´s case. Currently the Celtics occupy the 8th spot and in order to make the Playoffs by keeping the 8th spot at the very least the Celtics will have to become more consistent in terms of bringing it every night, and the youngster in Bradley and the explosive Jeff Green will have to contribute more now that Rondo will be out until at least training camp. There has been speculation that the C´s would be making a trade, but Doc Rivers reiterated today that there are no trades on the horizon and that most of what´s being said stems from the media.
If guards Jason Terry, Leandro Barbosa, and Courtney Lee can find their shooting strokes, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett will once again get to show off their immense talents in the post season. Furthermore Jeff Green will also have to put up more points. Green is currently averaging 9.9 points per contest but this number should go to 13-15, if the C´s really want to make a post season push. Last year with Rondo and Ray Allen the C´s got all the way to game 7 of the Conference Finals, but don´t expect that scenario to repeat itself. While Garnett and Pierce may have the heart and drive to bring their team that far; the other C´s in green and black or green and white will have to find team chemistry and step up their individual games. If anyone can push this Celtic team to do this it´s definitely Doc Rivers. The Celtics should make the Playoffs and we should be shocked if they don´t likewise we should also be shocked if they make the 2nd Round as a 7 or 8 seed..