Rajon Rondo Ejection/Suspension

Rajon Rondo Picking Up Technical Foul vs Hawks

Article Written By Aiden Woodworth

Word Count: 481

Rajon Rondo Ejection/Suspension

        

April 29, 2012- It is the Boston Celtics vs Atlanta Hawks in the first game of the first round of the NBA Eastern conference playoffs. It is a close game and the Hawks crowd is going wild. The Celtics have the ball. All of the players have sweat beading off of them. The Hawks are up by four points and the crowd is chanting “de-fense, de-fense”. Rajon Rondo brings the ball down the court and gives it to Brandon Bass. Bass is unable to hold onto the ball and it rolls away. Bass and Josh Smith come together in an attempt to get the ball. After both of them collide the referee calls a foul on Brandon Bass. Rondo is furious at the referee. Rondo wanted a jump ball. He stomped over to the referee and began yelling at him. The referee quickly makes the “T” sign with his hands signaling a technical foul. Rondo is now furious and approaches the referee even closer. He comes to the referee and bumps the referee with his chest. The referee again does the “T” sign and Rondo is kicked out of the game for having two technical fouls. The Hawks crowd begins cheering, whooping and hollering because the Celtics star point guard is out of the game.

Josh Smith then goes to the foul line and makes both free throws. The crowd goes nuts and begins to cheer as loud as they can. The final score was 83-74, the Atlanta Hawks beat the Boston Celtics. Later the NBA reviewed the Rondo foul and suspended Rondo for game 2 of the Hawks vs Celtics playoff series.

I asked some seventh grade students a few questions. I first asked, “What was your reaction to the Rondo ejection?” Here is what some of them said, “It was stupid on Rondo’s part.” - Jonah H. “I thought it was weird and stupid.” - Dylan W. “I was completely baffled.” - Drew T. I also asked, “Do you think Rondo deserved to be suspended?” Michael M. said, “Yes, who does that to a referee?” “Yes because he yelled at the referee a lot and did the chest bump.” - Lewis J. “Yes.” - Thomas S. Finally I asked, “On a scale of one to ten with ten being the most knowledgeable, how much did you know about the Rondo incident?” Two seventh graders answered 1, two other seventh graders answered eight, and one seventh grader said 9.

The playoffs are always hard fought and intense. The players just have to know how to keep their cool in these situations. It is hard though when you have 10,000+ people constantly yelling and cheering around you. You really have to be calm though when your team is down by four, with a minute left in the game, with everything on the line.

References

1. SI.com – “With a little help from Rondo, Hawks hang on for Game 1 win”

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/basketball/nba/04/29/celtics.hawks.game1/index.html

2. Seventh grade students of Stoller Middle School