Pop takes aim at Rondo, irks Celtics fans
It was one of the most memorable moments in this year's NBA playoffs. Boston Celtics' Rajon Rondo suffered a dislocated elbow versus the Miami Heat in the East semifinals. Rondo left the court only to make a return to the court minutes later to help Boston to a win.
San Antonio Spurs' Manu Ginobili suffered a hyperextended right elbow in the Spurs' final game of the season versus the Phoenix Suns but unlike Rondo, he did not return to the game, sat out game one of the series against the Memphis Grizzlies, and came back to the court in game two.
Many compared Rondo's quick return to the court to the infamous Willis Reed moment but don't tell that to Spurs coach Gregg Popovich who thinks otherwise:
“It’s really been hard to watch the playoffs and have them make Rondo out like Willis Reed,”
“It’s like, Manu couldn’t even play the first game (against Memphis), and we probably shouldn’t have played him again. He went out there and worked through it, and you didn’t hear any of that kind of crap.”
“It’s like Rondo is the next coming of Willis Reed, the thing he did and the character he showed,” Popovich said. “Maybe he did show character and he was tough and all that, but it is no different than what Manu did. That just kind of angers me on a selfish level, so to speak.”
Although I can appreciate Pop backing up Manu, I have to disagree with him here. Rondo DISLOCATED his elbow yet came back to action minutes later. That speaks volumes and the comparison to Reed is sound.
Oh and in case you were wondering how Celtics fans reacted to Pop's remarks about Rondo, check out a few fan comments left at Reds Army:
- C'mon Pop, you're better than this. I understand that you are still frustrated because your #1 seeded Spurs embarrassed themselves in the first round of the playoffs. But there's no need to take a shot at Rajon Rondo.
- wow...wouldn't expect Pop to be so douchey.
- I've always had major respect for Gregg Pop, one of my favorites besides Doc, & George Karl, but he is very ignorant for saying the above... He's one of the coaches that always says the right thing, clearly he didnt this time, & Im not saying this because Rondo is a Celtic, but you cant downplay someone who dislocates their elbow, & literally coming back to play 15-20 minutes later, clearly its very different from Manu's cause not only did Manu only hyperextend his elbow, he sat for almost a week, so its very different Pop, come on now, you're better than that...
Tiime for you to chime in Spurs fans. What do you have to say about Pop's comments?
2 Like
Pop's point isn't about Rondo -- it's about the long-standing media indifference to the Spurs and the preference to fawn all over other, higher-profile clubs. It's long been true that the Spurs' accomplishments and storylines (even when greater than or equal to the same issues with other clubs) have been underplayed nationally. Last week, for instance, we saw a stream of obituaries on the Celtics' era; there was no such memorialization of the Spurs group, which has been together longer and accomplished significantly more than the Celtics did. I think Pop's just being protective of his guys and disappointed that their long-term legacy might be lost in media indifference to their greatness.
MJDVB10, the fact that you're "trolling" onto another team's site makes me lose major respect for Celtics fans.
@Emicris I also would disagree that Im trolling as I am only pointing out what seems like idiotic comments from posters here.
Alright, my mistake. I didn't know that. You can disagree with the comments here and call them idiotic, but don't call the people "idiots". That's what kind of made me upset. By the way, what Rondo did was very encouraging. I have no hatred against what he did.
@Emicris @MJDVB10 @jaernandez @JRODREP4SANANTO @RG8907 Regardless you cant take anything away from what Rondo did. That was some guts. Did you also read that Pop said he wished he did not play Manu again. Sounds like it might have been worse.
@Emicris Well it was posted to a Celtics blog with a link so it was pretty easy to find my way here only to be disappointed by the lack of intelligence here. It was clearly a bad dislocation and the comments from Popovich were out of line, and the rest of the fans here with the exception of JeffProjectSpurs seem to have some hate for what Rondo did. take it out on the medi for not following Ginobli's injury not Rondo.
DavidWood 6 pts
rondo is not Reed, not even close. Man, if he dislocated his elbow they just pop it back in, manus injury was worse , he really screwed up his elbow, they just popped Rondos elbow back in, and Popovich cares more about Manus heaalth , than Doc cared about Rondos, and adrenilen, can make up for a lot of pain, watch Rondo be messed up for a long, long time.
-------
You're obviously real dumb and have never dislocated anything in your life. Its extremely painful. "Just pop it back in" How can you be so stupid?
Are you idiots serious? Do you even know the story of Willis Reed?
Reed scored 2 points, and hardly played in the game. Rondo finished the same game he was injured in. You bunch of stupid homers. If Ginobli didnt flop around and look like he was going to cry so much, people might have said the same about him. Wow, losing major respect for Spurs fans these days...
@MJDVB10 wow, we're losing major respect to Celtics fans that like to come on here and try to trash talk. and get your facts right, first, because Reed scored the first two baskets in that game.
and if you saw the last sentence i wrote on my first post, i have no disrespect to Rondo. and in the first sentence, i did say that Pop's comments were little too harsh.
Pop was right. Rajon Rondo's dislocated elbow was just a plain fake. I can't imagine a player who dislocated his elbow can play basketball. But Rondo did steal away the ball with a layup, after that holding his elbow again by sending some message like "man, i got hurt badly but i can still do my routine 100%" THAT'S OVERACTING!! Get it?
Correction
Spurs just met one of the better up and coming teams and the Chicago Bull will really show how weak Boston really was by blowing out the Heat.
Rondo is no Willis Reed. Come on the guy was even cut from the USA basketball team. Critics make him out to be the Jesus Christ super star guard of the NBA which he is not. Boston nor the Lakers were any better than the Spurs. Spurs just met one of the better up and coming teams and the Chicago Bull will really show how week Boston really was by blowing out the Heat.
@jaernandez Youre right he's no Willis Reed, he's better. Reed scored 2 points and hardly played. Rondo returned to the same game and played the entire 4th quarter.
rondo is not Reed, not even close. Man, if he dislocated his elbow they just pop it back in, manus injury was worse , he really screwed up his elbow, they just popped Rondos elbow back in, and Popovich cares more about Manus heaalth , than Doc cared about Rondos, and adrenilen, can make up for a lot of pain, watch Rondo be messed up for a long, long time.
@DavidWood So on the one hand... it's not a big deal cuz it's a dislocated elbow and they popped it back in. But later you say "watch Rondo be messed up for a long, long time." So which is it.... is it an injury that's no big deal... or is it an injury that's so bad that playing with it will mess him up??
Cut the shit here. No one even compared the two freakin injuries until Pop opened his yap for some dumb reason. If Manu did what Rondo did, you all would still be blowing him.
Playoffs are the playoffs. Players will always play if there's no chance of getting hurt worse and it's humanly possible for them to be out there. And disclocations always look worse than they are, but are really pretty simple to fix - you just pop the join back in place. It's painful but then over. Manu's injury is actually much worse, overall. Comparisons between Rondo and Manu are apt. But the NBA cares more about the Celtics going out than they do the Spurs.
1 Like
@eve_lyons This was just something out of left field for Pop. He is usually great to commending players. Kind of threw me off when I read this.
yea, that was a little harsh for Pop the way he said it, but hey, Rondo is no Willis Reed. no disrespect to Rondo.
And why is that, becasue you let the overhyped NY media get to you? Reed scored 2 points. Big deal. Walt Frazier was the hero. @RG8907
1 Like
@RG8907 I agree it was a bit harsh but yes Rondo is no Reed but the comparison is sound. Both came back from pretty bad injuries and help their team to a win in the same game. I got to disagree with Pop here.
@JeffProjectSpurs very true, can't go wrong with that, but the difference is Reed inspired the Knicks to win their first title, while Rondo just inspired the C's to win that one game in the Heat series. as for the rest of that series, well, you know what happened. :)
@RG8907 @JeffProjectSpurs by your weird logic here, both actually only inspired there team to win 1 game. It just happened Willis Reeds was Game 7 of the finals.
