Brad Stevens: Rajon Rondo was 'huffing and puffing' after practice


Earlier in the week when Rajon Rondo said he was still a ways off from returning to game action, one of the things he stressed was that he is not in game shape physically.  His knee feels good, but his endurance is not back to where it should be.  After yesterday's practice head coach Brad Stevens shared a similar view:

"I would agree with his assessment. But that’s not unusual when you haven’t played in [11] months. How do you get to be game-conditioned without a lot of game opportunity or without a lot of practice opportunity, and real game-like scenarios? We tried just a quick little drill at the end to help him with that a little bit and he was huffing and puffing. But that’s part of it. That’s part of why we did it, and especially after three days off."

Here's more on what Rondo did in practice yesterday from ESPN Boston's Chris Forsberg:

As the Boston Celtics huddled after practice on Thursday afternoon, point guard Rajon Rondo stood slightly hunched with hands on his hips, trying to catch his breath. Rondo was at the center of some cardio-centric drills to close out an extended 90-minute workout with the goal of helping the All-Star guard get closer to game shape as part of the final stages of his rehab from ACL surgery. Rondo raced up and down the court during sprint-heavy drills, tried to take charges as teammates attacked in odd-man breaks, and even dunked off his left leg at one point. He seemed to be pushing himself hard as Boston engaged in its first practice after a three-day holiday break.

Just a though for other NBA athletes going forward: spend more time in the pool keeping your stamina up during rehab.  The "dunked off his left leg" news is definitely encouraging though.


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