Boston Sports Then and Now

Rajon Rondo and Chris Paul are not best friends.

According to NBA.com, the league office is investigating the Chris Paul/Rajon Rondo, post game, altercation after Sunday’s showdown between the Hornets and Celtics in Boston.

The Celtics pulled out the victory (97-87) but not without a fight from Paul and the Hornets. The game swung back and forth until the Celtics pulled away for good at the end of the fourth quarter.

Rondo and Paul’s rocky relationship has been well documented. The Celtics point guard had previously insinuated that Chris Paul is successful because he is the main scoring option for the Hornets. CP3 seemed to take exception to that comment though, in my estimation, it’s accurate.

The Hornets point guard seemed aggrevated with Rondo throughout Sunday evening’s game, the two players received double technical fouls in the second period. Paul, normally a loose player, displayed a demeanor throughout Sunday’s game that  seemed to indicate Rondo was continually getting under his skin. The tension culminated after the buzzer sounded as Paul alledgedly pursued Rondo towards the Celtics locker room. Reports indicate that Celtics assistant coach Tom Thibodeau had to hold CP3 back from confronting Rondo outside the C’s lockerroom.

Byron Scott admitted to hear Paul shouting to Rondo,

“He’s going to respect me as a man”.

Yesterday Chris Paul made the following comments on his Twitter account…

From Twitter Account:

Oneandonlycp3:

where that’s coming from…also me n coach Thibodeau never got in a shouting match, we talked…2 much respect for him, crazy how its twistedabout 16 hours ago from UberTwitter

Gettin ready for this big game in NY… n jus to clear this up I never came close to approaching the Celts locker room last night not sure about 16 hours ago from UberTwitter

In a story posted by Yahoo Sports this morning, Rondo enraged Chris Paul by allegedly telling the super-star point guard,

“I’ve got a ring, and you’re never gonna win one.”

After the game, reports from Yahoo Sports have Ray Allen, ever the peace maker, entering the Hornets locker room and “all but expressed his embarrassment at Rondo’s tired act”.

I like Rondo’s confidence and his feisty personality. I’d LOVE to know exactly what Ray said in the enemies locker room.

Nick Gelso covers the Boston Celtics and NBA for Boston Sports Then and Now. You can check out more of his great work on his blog: North Station Sports.