Heinsohn has conversation with Rondo after loss

CSNE

A. SHERROD BLAKLEY

BOSTON — As the media entered the Boston Celtics locker room following Sunday's loss to San Antonio, Rajon Rondo was in his usual spot in front of his locker.

In front of him was Celtics legend Tommy Heinsohn in what appeared to be an engaging back-and-fourth conversation.

"Keep chugging away" was the message Rondo said Heinsohn, an analyst for Comcast SportsNet, had for him.

"We talked for a while," Rondo said. "He shared his thoughts. I shared my thoughts as well."

Boston's uptempo pace is something Heinsohn employed when he coached the team. Naturally he's a big fan of seeing the Celtics play that brand of basketball.

While he encouraged Rondo to keep pushing the pace, Rondo had to remind him of how difficult that can be when the other team is scoring at will which was essentially what the Spurs were doing in the second half on Sunday.

It wasn't the first time that Heinsohn has sat down and talked to Rondo with words of encouragement, and it won't be the last time, either.

"Tommy is a guy I've been talking to since Day One," Rondo said. "He's been a big fan of mine and I believe in what he's done here in the past. He's done it all. Anytime a guy like Tommy wants to share something, I always try to listen."

Heinsohn won eight NBA titles (1957, 1959-1965) as a player and another two (1974, 1976) as a coach.

The timing of his sit-down with Rondo comes at a time when the Celtics (4-10) are looking to do something - anything - to get on track and win some games.

With Sunday's loss, Boston has now dropped four straight and seven of their last eight games to close out the month of November.

"He's the biggest supporter here," Rondo said of Heinsohn. "He's here every night, at every home game. He's rooting for us. He wants the best for our team. And he had some good advice for me. I'm going to take it and share that with my guys and figure some things out."

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Amazing that a speed-challenged player like Heinsohn became a lifetime devotee of uptempo basketball.  It's simply explained.  He saw, from day one in his career, what havoc it could wreak.  And, with Russell to back up him (and his teammates) defensively and on the boards, Heinie could often cheat a little on the defensive end and take off as an opponent's shot went up.  So he was a viable part of the fast break despite his lack of foot speed.

I'm glad Rondo's listening to Tommy.  At least I HOPE he's listening to Tommy and not just saying he is.

Sam

As you already know Sam, Tommy brought this up tempo style of basketball into coaching the Celtics and 2 titles.

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I attended many practices of those teams.  The intra-squad scrimmages were often more exciting than many league games I've seen more recently.

Sam