Nate Robinson, who sprained his ankle in yesterday’s game, will likely play against San Antonio tomorrow. 

Kendrick Perkins, nursing knee tendinitis, probably won’t. 

And Paul Pierce?  He missed portions of today’s practice due to soreness.  Don’t freak out too much, though: Doc Rivers says it was only for maintenance purposes.  There is nothing to be concerned with regards to Pierce, says Doc. 

“Paul was sore, so that took us down to 10 (players),” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said of the training session. “Nate’s pretty good, I think he’ll play. I don’t think Perk will play. He may play, but right now I would say no. The way we’re looking at it it gives him two or three extra days, then he can play on Wednesday, so it just gives him a longer rest.”

Get well, Perk, and stay healthy, Paul.  As for you, Nate, I’m glad you bounced back so quickly.

If you were a rebounding center, who would be the worst player you could be compared to?  Maybe Mark Blount.

If you were a shooter, maybe Ben Wallace or Andris Biedrins.  A defender, perhaps Jason Kapono.  A winner, potentially Vince Carter.  Good teammate, probably Andray Blatche or Gilber Arenas.

But who would be the worst player you could be compared to, if you were an intelligent NBA point guard?  It just might be one of the two players Kevin Garnett compares to Rajon Rondo.  (Jimmy Toscano, CelticsBlog)

Asked to compare Rondo with previous point guards that Garnett has played with, Stephon Marbury and Chauncey Billups, Garnett had even more praise for Rondo.

“Rondo just doesn’t score the ball, he’s just as intelligent as Steph or Chauncey.”

I know Garnett didn’t mean it as an insult, but a compliment.  But to say somebody is “just as intelligent” a basketball player as Stephon Marbury?  The man who never seemed to know when to shoot or pass, to be aggressive or passive?  That’s nothing short of a backhanded slap across the mug.  Pretty severe, as far as insults go.

To be fair, KG did play with Steph (the first time around) when Steph was a rising stud, and one of the NBA’s top young point guards.  Back then, he was a dime machine and could get to the rack on anybody.  But even though he put up big numbers, Marbury was never a winner.  His intelligence — even before people started to try to put Marbury in a box, even before vaseline became part of his diet, even before selling dirt-cheap sneakers became more important than his NBA career — could always be questioned.

I’d like to think Rondo’s a smarter player than Steph, and that it isn’t even close. Anybody with me?

There was a time, not too, too long ago, when Paul Pierce couldn’t lay off the twinkies.  Or the honey buns.  Or the cupcakes.

What would you have done if there was a Hostess bread store right across the street?

Pierce says he was called the “roly-poly kid,” and that he was fat but prefers the word “chubby.”  He then rolled a piece of gum into a round ball, to describe his shape as a youngster.  “It just took me a while to stretch out,” he said.

Some would say Pierce still hasn’t stretched out enough.  Justin Verrier, an assistant editor at ESPN.com, tweeted on Wednesday night, “You know, ‘Sheed gets ripped on for being out of shape, but Pierce never catches flack for being shaped like a potato his entire career.”

It’s true, Pierce is thick. (Pause.) But I saw him without his shirt on (when I covered a game and was in the locker room, sickos), and there isn’t much fat on him. He’s not as cut-up as some guys, but most definitely in good shape. He’s got a barrel chest, and you can easily see why he’s a handful for defending small forwards. (And no, I’m not sexually attracted to him. It only seems like that.)

Pierce, though he still enjoys the occasional bowl of chocolate ice cream, says he wants to help young kids do what he learned later on in life: Staying in shape takes good eating habits and plenty of exercise.  His solution to childhood obesity?  To start a fitness program for kids, called the FitClub34.

Points accumulate for activity time and can be redeemed for prizes that include Pierce T-shirts, iPods and Flip videocams, a session with the star, or attending a Celtics game in his personal suite. The club is part of Pierce’s charitable foundation, The Truth Fund. Like the federal government, Pierce’s program encourages 60 minutes of exercise daily. [...]

“I struggled with my own weight as a young man and I have seen my family, friends, and community struggle with not having enough opportunities to eat well and engage in physical activity,’’ said Pierce, 32. “Staying active and eating well has been a huge part of my success and I think it’s critical that kids understand how important exercise and nutrition are to a happy, successful life.’’

Keeping kids away from obesity is admirable.  Paul Pierce is doing a great deed. He really is.

But he should probably work on predicting the NCAA Tournament first.

Rondo does some things every night that surprise even himself. (Photo by Brian Babineau/Getty Images)

When Rajon Rondo is on top of his game, everything comes down to yo-yo’s.

The game’s like a yo-yo in his hands. The ball’s like a yo-yo in his fingertips. He can walk the dog, put it around the world, even rock the baby. When Rondo’s yo-yo’ing around, the game is his. Everyone else is too slow. No opponent can keep up. It’s like he’s a grown man on a playground with little kids, only the little kids are all taller and stronger than he. But they aren’t faster, they don’t have better court vision, and they aren’t in control. They don’t have the game at their fingertips. Not like Rondo does.

“I would just take Rondo,” Doc Rivers said when asked who he’d choose if he had his choice of one point guard. “I wouldn’t even look at another point guard. There are some great point guards in the league, we’ve seen a couple of them the last two games, in Deron Williams and Chauncey Billups. But we have Rondo and he’s my guy.”

It hasn’t always been that way. Three seasons ago, he backed up Sebastian Telfair as Boston stumbled to a 24-58 season. Even two seasons ago, Rondo was the weak link in the Celtics’ starting five. Sam Cassell was signed midway through the season as a backup point guard, and the hope was that Cassell would play well enough to supplant Rondo as an end-of-game option. It didn’t work out. Cassell flopped, launching brick after brick, losing Doc’s confidence along the way. But that didn’t mean Rondo’s job of closing out games was safe. When push came to shove, and the Celtics needed to close out playoff wins, Eddie House often heard his number called.

Last season was different. Rondo emerged as one of the league’s up-and-coming stars with a breakout postseason. Paired against Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose and then a hungry Orlando defense, Rondo alerted the world what he’s always believed, in that self-confident heart of his: Number Nine will eat you alive. He dropped 16.9 points, 9.8 assists, and 9.7 rebounds per game, as he wrestled control of the Celtics from the two Big Three members standing. It wasn’t so much that there was a struggle for power, so much that Rondo seized it with little resistance. The conch was his, and he earned it the right way: By outplaying whatever opponent stood in front of him.

But there were rumbles of discontent. Rondo was fined for being late to a playoff game. He was labeled a troublemaker in the locker room, a disruptive force. “We need him to be more of a leader,” said Danny Ainge at the time. “He’s got to grow up in some cases.” Bob Ryan wrote, “He’s not some awful person, but let’s just say he has his ways, and he sometimes grates on teammates, coaching staff, and management.” Part of the solution on the floor, Rondo was deemed a problem off it.

Ainge looked into trading the young star in the offseason. His name was involved in rumors with the Detroit Pistons and Memphis Grizzlies, among other teams. Less than two months after being a nightly triple-double, Rondo was unsure if he’d ever play another game as a Celtic.

Not that it affected his preparation. After draft night passed and Ainge hadn’t pulled the trigger on any trades, it became clear that Rondo would stay with the only NBA organization he’d ever played for. Did he harbor grudges? Not on the surface, at least. Instead of pouting during the offseason, Rondo put on 11 pounds of muscle. Rather than fire back at Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers verbally, Rondo kept his mouth shut and returned to camp a different player. Scratch that, a different teammate. Where others might have rebelled at the criticisms, Rondo took them to heart. He changed his ways. He remodeled himself to be better for his team.

And it showed on the court. From day one this season, Rondo has been the Celtics’ leader. With his play, with his words, everything. “It’s weird,” Nate Robinson said of Rondo’s role on the team. “You’ve got Rondo running the show, you’ve got KG, and he’s a vet. It’s like you got a guy out here, young guy, running the show, and the vets and everybody are just listening and just try to play together.” The team that tried to get rid of him, now listening to his orders. The locker room he once disrupted, heeding his advice.

Boston rewarded his new attitude and improved play with a 5-year, $55 million contract extension. The NBA recognized him as an All-Star. He just broke Rick Fox’s Celtics single-season record for steals, and will soon erase Bob Cousy’s Celtics single-season assists record. With those two records, Rondo’s evolving maturity, and elite rebounding rarely seen from a point guard, Rondo’s season is one of the best a point guard has compiled in the Celtics’ storied history. Right there with Cousy’s prime years.

“[Rondo has] grown up before everybody’s eyes,” said Garnett, who has always contended that Rondo could become one of the league’s top point guards. “You want your point guard setting the tone every night. You want your point guard leading [you]. It’s great to watch because I’ve seen him when he was quiet, hiding in the corner, didn’t say two words. Sometimes we sort of miss that.”

Garnett’s only kidding about missing the old Rajon Rondo, the one who used to hide in the corner, come late to games, and scrape only the surface of his vast potential. That Rondo isn’t coming back. A maturation process has left a new Rondo, a better Rondo, a Rondo prepared to carry his team into tomorrow, and lead them today.

The wild thing about his evolution, the scary part for the rest of the NBA, is that Rondo will only get better. He’s improved by leaps and bounds every year, in every aspect. Each night, the team falls a little more into his control, as he continues the process of receiving the torch from the Big Three. The Boston Celtics aren’t yet completely his, but they will be.

And when they are, the Celtics will be in good hands.

Just like the yo-yo attached to his fingertips.

A few days ago against the Utah Jazz, Rajon Rondo did an absurd around-the-back dribble from his left hand to his left hand, all while traveling at full speed. He then hit Ray Allen for an open three-pointer, which Ray drained.

Yesterday, Rondo did the same dribble again, this time immobilizing Sean May with the move, then finishing the play off by himself.

What is Rondo’s ceiling?

The kid is as physically gifted as any point guard in the league, and as disruptive a defender as they come. Rondo makes one or two plays every single night that take you out of your seat and make you wonder if anyone else in basketball can make that play. He’s not quite Lebron James — who makes plays like that so routinely it doesn’t surprise anyone anymore — but Rondo, as Doc Rivers pointed out, has quickly become one of the league’s most electric performers.

Thank God the Celtics resigned him.

The Celtics have gotten rid of their morning walkthrough, but that doesn’t mean we have to. Here are a few Celtics links, and maybe even an NBA link or two, to help wake you up and get you focused for the day.

Anybody else play Mike Tyson's Punchout? Looks like Little Mac got knocked out.

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “Had it happened in the Celtics locker room, the dispute between Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton would have never made it to the point where guns had to be drawn. Bryan Doo, the Celtics strength and conditioning coach, pretty much made sure of that a year ago. His solution was boxing gloves. ‘If anybody has any differences on this team,’ Ray Allen recalled Doo saying, ‘we’re going to go in the weight room and we’re going to settle it.’ He had head gear for each player as well. ‘For a couple days we were warning, like, ‘OK, I challenge you.’ And you said, ‘OK, let’s take it in the weight room and duke it out,’ ‘ Allen said. ‘We were playing, having a good time with it.’”

Rich Levine, CSNNE – “The offense was just off. They missed from the inside, the outside, on fast breaks, and out of the half court set. It didn’t matter. The ball wouldn’t go in. And as the quarter went on things only heated up slightly. Boston finished the first shooting at only a 38 percent clip (10-26). An ugly number for a one of the league’s most efficient shooting teams. In the past, whether it was against the Nets, the Grizzlies, or any of the lackluster performances the C’s have previously had at the Garden this season, this would have spelled disaster. It would have breathed life into their inferior opponent. They would have given the Kings confidence, while ruining their own. It would have set the stage for another unnecessary battle. But tonight, it didn’t matter. Tonight, despite all their offensive issues, the Celtics went into the break with a 15-point lead. They were in complete control. They almost already had the Kings buried. Why? Because tonight, the C’s brought back that old school defensive energy and intensity, the likes of which used to make it nearly impossible for a team to come in and achieve any level of success at the Garden.”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “‘Our entire bench said it,’ Rondo said. ‘I have the record for most steals and the most gambles in one season.’ ‘One of the guys said, ‘Now you can go back to being solid,’ ‘ said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. Rondo said with a grin he wasn’t aware of the gambles. ‘We were,’ Garnett said. ‘I don’t know if we keep that stat,’ Rondo said. ‘We keep it,’ Garnett said. ‘Don’t worry about it.’ It’s an urge he admits he fights. Every so often you can see him let his man go by, then swipe at the ball, trying to poke it loose. But when he’s at his best defensively, which he was for most of last night’s win, Rondo is a menace, affecting the game without having to shoot or score.”

Gary Washburn, Boston Celtics – “‘He’s grown up before everybody’s eyes,’ Garnett said. ‘He’s grown up into a prolific scorer, a player who can affect the game in many ways. When he’s frustrated I try to relay that message to him. I try to repeat it in his head so at some point he understands. I love him because he’s a student of the game. He’s hard-headed like all of us but at the same time he wants it more than any other player and that’s what you want. You want your point guard setting the tone every night. You want your point guard leading us. It’s great to watch because I’ve seen him when he was quiet, hiding in the corner, didn’t say two words. Sometimes we sort of miss that.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “Rivers angrily replaced Glen Davis with Brian Scalabrine in the third quarter after the former committed a triple fault – a turnover, followed by a foul, followed by a technical foul. Davis didn’t play another minute. ‘You don’t get a tech in that situation,’ said Rivers. ‘When you’re up 18 points and your team’s struggling, you’re not (Kevin) Garnett or one of those guys. You don’t get the liberty, anyway, to talk to the officials. ‘And he wasn’t playing well, anyway, at that point. He was playing like the score, and I just told him he’s not at that point in his life where he can turn it on and off. We need him to be an every possession player, and I didn’t think he was that tonight.’”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “This is what can happen when you have a deep team full of players starving to play more minutes. If you slump, you sit. That’s essentially what Marquis Daniels is going through these days. And it’s not a coincidence that some of his usual minutes, are now being given to Tony Allen who continues to play solid basketball. In Friday’s 94-86 win over Sacramento, Allen had six points and four rebounds in about 12 minutes. Daniels had two points in about six minutes of action. Even more telling was that Allen saw action near the end of the first quarter, while Daniels’ first minutes didn’t come about until the Celtics were ahead by 24 points in the third quarter.”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “Before the Celtics could even secure the Atlantic Division title with a win over Sacramento, Toronto handed them the division crown with a loss Friday night to the Nuggets. But. two days after ensuring themselves a postseason berth, the champagne remained on ice in Boston. ‘I didn’t know that,’ Rivers said of the division title. ‘So, I guess that’s good. It’s obviously not what we’re trying to do. I mean, it’s nice — 20 years from now, when I’m bragging to my grandkids and lying. Obviously, when you have a team with your goals so high, you don’t really focus on it.’ Celtics forward Kevin Garnett echoed Rivers’ sentiments: ‘I wasn’t even aware of that. I don’t think that anybody in the locker room said anything like that. I think tonight we were more appreciative of [Rajon] Rondo, and his accomplishments. Any time you get any kind of record in this organization on a team like what we have, it’s a huge thing. We are just of appreciative of being in the moment, being here, being a part of it. It is a very special moment, and no one even talked about the division title tonight. Tonight was Rondo’s night.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “A blossoming laugher thus ended with one of coach Doc Rivers’ most dreaded actions – sending his starters back in. But he was nearly stubborn enough – and ticked off enough – to say the hell with it. ‘I thought we stopped playing,’ Rivers said. ‘It was really difficult for me to put the starters back in, but I did. We had the ball three or four times with a chance to get (the lead) to 30, but we didn’t because of the way we started playing. It looked like it was the bench’s fault, but it really wasn’t. But I told them I’m not going to let them cloud what we did for two-and-a-half quarters. That was terrific basketball. We were getting stops. The ball was moving. So overall when I watch the film, I’ll watch that.’”

Have a link I might want to look at? Send it my way by email (jayking@celticstown.com) or Twitter.