Rajon Rondo on His Muscle Spasms in Game 4

Rondo struggled against the Magic last night, but refused to blame the poor play on his health. From ESPN: “Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo downplayed the muscle spasms that sent him to the locker room before the end of the first half of Boston’s 96-92 overtime loss to Orlando on Monday, chalking up his quiet night to simply a poor personal performance. ‘I’m fine, I just didn’t play well,’ said Rondo. Rondo, limited by three first-half fouls, registered only five points and four assists in 15:08 before the intermission and retreated to the locker room with strength and conditioning coach Bryan Doo with 1:16 remaining in the second quarter. He returned to action to start the third quarter, but finished with nine points, eight assists, three rebounds, and three steals over 42:57 — quiet for Rondo’s lofty playoff standards. But both he and Rivers suggested the injury had little to do with any lack of production. ‘I didn’t even know [about Rondo retreating to the locker room],’ Rivers said after the game. ‘I knew early on he said he was fatigued. He told, I think [trainer] Eddie [Lacerte] and maybe when he went in, that was the spasms he was talking about. Honestly, I didn’t check. When I came in at halftime, he said he was good. I don’t really ask. If the trainer comes to you, then you know it’s something serious. If he doesn’t, you just let it go.”‘