LONDON — After nearly a year away from the court, Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo made his season debut against the Lakers inside TD Garden in Boston on Friday night, finishing with eight points and four assists in 19 minutes in his first action since tearing his ACL and being lost for the season late last January.
There’s little doubt two of Rondo’s old teammates in Boston, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, were watching with interest after returning to New York on Friday following the Nets’ emphatic 127-110 win over the Hawks Thursday in London.
“It’s always good to see your little brother, man,” Garnett said before Thursday’s game. “I worry about his health. I know he wants to play. I know he wants to help that team. I try to keep an eye out for the young boys [in Boston], just to see how they’re doing.
“I know he’s eager to play, and I know he’s eager to get back out. My only concern is always health-wise. Rondo knows his body, he knows himself. I’m just glad he’s still able to fulfill his dream and play the game that he loves. Anytime, that’s first and foremost. Everything else is secondary.”
Rondo’s return undoubtedly will add yet another layer of intrigue to a game virtually everyone around the NBA has had circled on their calendars since the schedule was released last summer: the Nets’ first visit to Boston on Jan. 26, when Garnett and Pierce will make their official returns to the city where they won their only championship in 2008.
“I mean, I expected him to be out there anyway,” Pierce said with a smile. “I mean, I thought he would be back a lot sooner than this week. Obviously he’s just taking his time, making sure he’s 100 percent, which he should do, and I expect him to be out there anyway.”
When Garnett and Ray Allen were traded to Boston in the summer of 2007 to play alongside Pierce and form the first “Big Three” of this recent era in the NBA, the biggest question mark surrounding that Celtics team was how far that team could go with Rondo — then entering his second year in the NBA.
A mercurial personality even then, Rondo proved to be up to the task, helping lead the Celtics to the title and slowly but surely becoming an equal, even surpassing his older teammates over their final six seasons together, and earning their respect in the process.
“Absolutely,” Garnett said when asked if Rondo being on the court will make his return to Boston mean even more. “That’s a little brother, man. We all grew together. When we grew, it wasn’t something we did minimally. We all gave all of ourselves to each other, and we grew in that. That connection, you grow with it through time, and it’s one of them connections that you look at as forever.
“That’s my little brother. I love Rondo. He knows that, and I would do anything for him. All in all, I’m just happy that he’s back, and I’m just happy he’s able to be healthy and continue to be able to do one of the things he does best.”