A packed house at the TD Garden on Friday afternoon was expecting a marquee matchup between two All-Star point guards, as New Orleans' Chris Paul invaded the Hub to take on Boston's Rajon Rondo.
But while Paul turned in a masterful performance for the Hornets — 20 points, 11 assists, six steals and five rebounds to lead the Hornets an impressive win — Rondo was watching from the Celtics' bench, sporting a T-shirt and jacket. For the seventh straight game, Rondo sat out as he continues to mend a sprained ankle.
"I didn't have a setback," Rondo said Friday. "I just couldn't go. I tried to play one-on-one today, and I wasn't able to do what I usually do."
"He’s just not ready," coach Doc Rivers said. "He’s close, though. He’s getting better. He’ll be back soon — maybe the next game, maybe the game after, we just don’t know yet. But he’ll be back soon."
The Celtics have just one day off Saturday after the Hornets loss — they'll fly to Toronto in the afternoon before taking on the Raptors on Sunday evening. From there, it's back to Boston to begin a long January homestand.
Rondo doesn't know when exactly he'll return.
"I don't know," he said. "It's day to day. Maybe Sunday, maybe Monday, maybe Chicago [a week from Saturday]."
He says that the swelling in his ankle has subsided and it doesn't bother him anymore. His two previous injuries this season — a strained hamstring and plantar fasciitis in his feet — are fine now, as well. His soreness has gone away with two weeks of rest.
Rondo is definitely close to a return, but the Celticsjust have to weather the storm until he's back.
"It's tough, but we've just got to make do," Rivers said. "I just told our guys that. I said that we don't need any of this 'feeling sorry for yourself' crap. We really don't need that. We all practice, and someone just has to step in. We don't need anybody to step up. We just need you to step into your role and do what you do."
The Celtics were riding an 11-game winning streak when Rondo went down on Dec. 15. They stretched that streak to 14 before Christmas, but they've since lost three of their last four games. Overall this season, the team is 17-3 with Rondo in the lineup and 7-4 without him.
"It is what it is," Rondo said. "They've won some games without me. That's the NBA. Not to say that if I play, we'd probably win some more games, but the Detroit game and this game, we should have won. With me, without me, with KG, without him, we should have won these two games."
