Doc Rivers Says Rajon Rondo Was Suspended Due to His Reputation

After lightly bumping into referee Rodney Mott in Atlanta over the weekend, the NBA suspended Rajon Rondo for last night’s game in New York. According to Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers, it had a lot to do with the reputation that Rondo has earned over the years. From CSNNE: “The incident occurred with 3:19 to play in the third quarter of the C’s 89-81 win at Atlanta on Saturday. At the time, Mott didn’t make a call regarding the incident and with that, Rivers thought it was a non-issue. That is, until the league announced hours before Monday’s tip-off that Rondo was suspended for bumping the official and according to the league’s statement on the incident, ‘failure to cooperate with a league investigation.’ Making intentional contact with an official is a one-game suspension. But what was somewhat unclear in Rondo’s latest suspension – it is his third since April of last year – is the part about him failing to cooperate with the investigation. […] ‘You know the old saying, you’re not given that reputation, you earn one,’ Rivers said. ‘And I’m sure that had a lot to do with it as well.’ […] ‘We just work on it, everyday,’ Rivers said. ‘He’s going to play a long time and he has a long time, a lot of time to change it.'”