Rajon Rondo goes Willis Reed: Celtics beat Heat

The Boston Celtics took care the Miami Heat Saturday night 97-81, their Eastern Conference semi-final now 2 games to 1, Heat advantage.

The Celtics played it physical and clamped down on Miami's big three of Dwayne Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh. But perhaps the biggest story of the night involved Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo.

Rondo briefly dislocated his elbow after being pulled to the ground while stealing the ball from Wade. Rondo went back to the locker room, got taped up put on an elbow pad and came back into the game, helping lead Boston to victory.

Props to Rondo, there are not a lot of guys in the high, priced, prima-donna world that is the NBA who would have done that. Rondo's status for the rest of the series however, remains in question.

Your highlights from SI.com/NBA.com:

Celtics Shopping Rondo & Allen?

How about this little ditty from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.com.

The Boston Celtics appear willing to make major roster changes to balance a chance for a championship run and future financial flexibility.

The Celtics offered Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo to the Detroit Pistons for a package that included Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and Rodney Stuckey, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Boston general manager Danny Ainge and Detroit’s Joe Dumars never spoke, but rather the Celtics had a lower-level executive make the pitch to a Pistons official over the past weekend, league sources said. Detroit immediately rejected the idea, and it never advanced to the two top executives speaking about particulars.

This isn’t an uncommon occurrence for a GM like Ainge to dispatch an underling to make that kind of a call, if for no other reason to give the top executive some level of deniability that he’s shopping his stars.

How about that Celtic fans.

Celtics President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge added his take to the situation Tuesday morning on the trade rumor.

“We love Rajon and I’m not going to comment on which rumors are true or not true," Ainge said. "We love this kid and I don’t anticipate trading anyone from our core."

Ainge added, "I've had many conversations. But a rumor that said lower-level executives are talking about a trade rumor pretty much means it doesn't really have any merit or any value, if it's not being discussed at the top."

According to Ainge, no player is untradeable but he most likely will retain the core players while looking for a veteran or two.

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