"That's why they called it Gator Aid."

Rajon Rondo is in Las Vegas and he WILL try out for Team USA. “Just touched down in Vegas,” he tweeted. “Team USA.” I wonder why it was ever in doubt.

By the way, Chris Sheridan predicted Rondo wouldn’t make the team, citing his free throw inaccuracy as the reason. Among those who Sheridan predicted would make the team over Rondo? Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Tyreke Evans and Derrick Rose. Coincidentally, all were sitting at home while Rondo made the NBA playoffs his bitch.

What do you guys think? Will Rondo make the team? Or will his shooting woes, which will be magnified in FIBA play, keep him off?

Rajon Rondo will be facing fierce competition when he tries out for Team USA starting on July 20. Of the 22 players set to compete at the tryout, six of them — including Rondo – are point guards. (Green Street) Read more »

I dare you to look at this picture and not laugh.

Let me give it to you straight. I wouldn’t want to sugarcoat anything.

Tonight’s matchup with the Sacramento Kings is a game the Boston Celtics should win.

Unless you happen to fear midgetized power forwards who can score, score, and score some more, Tyreke Evans is the only King who strikes any semblance of fear in your heart… and he’ll miss the game due to a concussion.

The Kings also start a 7-footer at center, one with legitimate skill and post touch. The problem is, he’s softer than silly putty and his best highlight so far this year is a pre-game chest bump with his coach. Never a good thing, when aspiring to win basketball games.

But fear not, Kings fans, your team has a talented, 6’7″ guard to pick up the slack. Of course, a physio-ball got the best of him before the season, and he hardly fares better against the NBA than he did against that blasted workout ball.

Don’t worry though, Sacto, the Kings also have a Slovenian point guard averaging 19 points and 11 assists over his last three games. The stuff of legends. You know, if legends were as good at defense as a stick of celery and as overpaid as Antoine Walker’s financial consultant.

Still, everything’s okay in Sacramento. The Kings still have that Jewish guy who participated in the H.O.R.S.E. contest. Of course, he was put to shame by Kevin Durant and Rajon Rondo in that competition and has been even more humbled during his last four games. Over that time, he has scored nine more points in the NBA than his rabbi.

No need to frown though, Sactown. The Kings have a tough, veteran small forward known for his shooting prowess and gritty play. Then again, he’s older than most of his teammates and doesn’t seem to fit into his organization’s plans. Actually, come to think of it, he just asked to be traded.

There is a silver lining, though. The Kings just lost to the Nets during their last game. As Celtics fans, we all know how humiliating that is. But why is such public embarrassment a light at the end of the tunnel?

Because, for the Sacramento Kings, there’s nowhere to go but up.

The game is at 7:30 p.m. EST. Enjoy.

How would Tyreke have looked as a Celtic?

Tyreke Evans (concussion) won’t play tonight for the Sacramento Kings, but his team’s meeting with the Boston Celtics is still a reason to look back on what could have been.

Before this season, there were trade rumors surrounding the Celtics moving a package headlined by Ray Allen or Rajon Rondo for a top-five pick and the right to draft Tyreke.  Evans, who at the time had just completed an up-and-down season for the Memphis Tigers, was a Danny Ainge favorite.  Ainge had apparently already seen the qualities Evans has since revealed during a rookie campaign that has taken the NBA by storm, establishing Evans as a future star.

NESN’s Evans Clinchy looked at the trade that never was, concluding that sometimes the best trades are the ones that were never made.  To Clinchy, both the Celtics and Kings benefited from failing to pull the trigger on the trade: The Celtics have a better chance to win now, and the Kings have a superstar for the future.

But is it that simple?

I think bringing Evans in would have disrupted the present, and given the Celtics less of a chance to win now.  In the future, though, Evans would have been one hell of a piece to build around.

In the end, it all comes down to whether the Celtics win a championship.  If they do, it’s obviously worth keeping the core and sacrificing the future.  But if they don’t win another championship with the current nucleus, a backcourt of Rajon Rondo and Tyreke Evans would have been a damn good place to start the rebuilding process.  That is, if the two players who both like the ball in their hands didn’t spontaneously self-combust.

I like the Celtics right now.  I really do.  But the thought of Tyreke Evans playing in Celtics Green — as impossible as it is now — is still intriguing, especially as he chugs along to a 20-5-5 Rookie of the Year season.

Tyreke Evans, widely considered the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year, will not play tomorrow night against the Boston Celtics because of a concussion suffered March 19 against the Milwaukee Bucks. (NBA.com)

Sacramento Kings guard Tyreke Evans will miss the team’s next two games (at Boston 3/26, at Cleveland 3/28) and will be re-evaluated on Monday, according to President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie.

For the Celtics, it means the lone breather of their six-game homestand just got even easier, as the Kings should sorely miss Evans’ scoring and playmaking abilities.

The Boston Celtics hung on to beat the Sacramento Kings, 95-92, winning the first game of a four-game West Coast trip due to the youth and inexperience of the Kings.

Sacramento missed 8 of the 10 fourth-quarter free throws they attempted. And one of those made free throws was with under a minute left and Omri Casspi intentionally trying to miss.

The first quarter was played at a fast pace and featured little defensive intensity. The game was tied at 30 at the end of the first quarter, but Boston only allowed 62 points the rest of the game. For the first quarter, Sacramento was shooting almost 60% from the field; for the game, Sacramento shot only 38%.

Boston also struggled offensively in the second half. The Celtics scored only 38 second-half points, shooting 37.5% in the game. Paul Pierce and Rasheed Wallace led Boston in scoring with 17 points apiece, while Casspi led Scaramento with 19 points. As Jay predicted in our Celtics game preview, Tyreke Evans was a tough defensive match up for Rajon Rondo: Evans finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists.

Boston won despite a sub-par game from the starting five of Rondo, R. Allen, Pierce, Garnett, and Perkins, who combined to shoot 17-50. All five starters had plus/minuses between -3 and -8, while the five players off the bench who played (Daniels, House, Wallace, Davis, T. Allen) combined for 44 points and 20 rebounds, and all had positive plus/minuses, led by Glen Davis with a +11. Rasheed Wallace also played fantastic off the bench, contributing 17 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 blocks.