Got Rondo?

Outside of Curt Schilling, the personal blogs of pro athletes aren’t usually all that compelling , but I gotta say, Rajon Rondo’s got a pretty good one going over at Yardbarker. He updates regularly and gives a lot of inside info like:

If you were watching the game you know that I injured my ankle in the third quarter. It happened on a fast break and I rolled it. I think I may have stepped on someone’s foot, but I still haven’t seen the play. It’s a different feeling than I’ve ever had. I’ve injured my ankle before but this one is unlike the others. The pain is on the inside of my foot. All the other ankle sprains have been on the outside. I will be getting a lot of treatment tonight, tomorrow, Thursday to try to get it ready to go for game 4. I did try to go again in the fourth quarter, but I really couldn’t make any hard cuts. No one is 100% at this point, but I was probably 50%. Coach made the right decision taking me out because I didn’t have my quickness. E House did a great job filling in. When his name was called he was ready to play and that’s big for us.

There’s no question this one is disappointing. We feel like we had a chance to really put them away and go up 3-0. Paul never had a chance to get in a rhythm because of foul trouble and we just struggled on offense. Even though we played very bad we still had a chance in the end. We just didn’t get the stops down the stretch when we needed it. They were very aggressive tonight similar to the way we were in game 2. But in the end we still had a chance but let it get away.

Heading back to the hotel and will keep working on my ankle. Lots of ice and I’ll keep it elevated. I’ll have more later. Until then I’ll holla.

David Stern on the league’s refs

I caught up with NBA commissioner David Stern this afternoon at a great event at the Boys and Girls Club in Santa Monica. He was on hand, along with a lot of other NBA dignitaries, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Derek Fisher, Vlad Radmanovic, Bill Sharman and Bill Lanier to present a new reading and learning center to the Boys and Girls club over on Lincoln and Wilshire.

These are some of the best things the NBA does, and you could tell the kids there were already making great use of their new digs. If you’re in the area, it’s worth a look.

But controversy waits for no good deed. And Stern has had to field questions every where he goes these days about the salacious allegations of game-fixing leveled by ex-referee Tim Donaghy yesterday.

Here’s the latest:

“Obviously our guys have a very hard job. There are always fans who are upset on any particular call, and feel that it’s incorrect. And online polls (about whether the public believes Donaghy) are fascinating, but the people who are participating are the ones who have the largest beefs, so it’s not a great indication (about fans skepticism). But we have to do a better job of letting our fans know of how much our officials do, how it’s metricizded and judged, how viewed and rated they really are.

“We just need to get it out there what a good job is done to make sure our officials are the best in the world. There’s an observer at every game and he watches every play, then he goes hom and he reviews the video and then there are supervisors who view that, the referees themselves view the games, and then at the end of the season the coaches and general managers and the league officiating staff rates and ranks the referees. They’re clearly the most rated and ranked group of employees in terms of their performance in all of sports. But each time an allegation is made, the media forgets what they learned last time and we have to start the education program again.

All of that said, we’ve added instant replay to help them out at games’ end or when the period ends, maybe we consider other extensions of that. But most of the time, 90-91 percent of the time, our referees get it right. That’s a fact.”

Walton’s MVP vote

Bill Walton said, on his first national conference call since a severe back injury, that his MVP vote enthusiastically went to Boston’s Kevin Garnett.

“He’s one of the greatest players ever to play the game,” Walton said.

Newble active

Who knows if it means anything, but Ira Newble is active for tonight’s game, while DJ Mbenga is in street clothes.

Newble is known as a defensive stopper. He hasn’t played much since signing in the middle of the season, but if the tenor of tonight’s game calls for it, he’s available.

Game 2 rewind

I got a lot of good feedback from you guys on this the last time I posted a link to Kevin Modesti’s blog, so I thought I’d throw it out there again.

Basically, if you were the sports writer, in Boston, covering the game, what did you think was the most important thing that happened in Sunday’s Game 2?

Click here to vote and sound-off

Jordan Farmar wants to give you tickets

Los Angeles Lakers’ Guard Jordan Farmar is holding an online charity raffle for two premium tickets for Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Proceeds
will benefit the newly established Jordan Farmar Foundation at The
Giving Back Fund. The online raffle will take place at
www.netraffle.org with raffle ticket prices starting at just $2.00
each and decreasing in price for orders of more than five tickets
(minimum purchase of 5 tickets).

In addition to the lower level Center Court tickets to Game 4 of the
NBA Finals, the winner will experience the LA Lakers pre-game warm
up, meet with Jordan Farmar in the Staples Center’s Chairman’s
Lounge following the game, and have dinner with Jordan Farmar at
the conclusion of the season.

The Jordan Farmar Foundation’s initial focus is on building
playgrounds in Southern California and providing once-in-a-lifetime
experiences for children in collaboration with Mattel Children’s
Hospital UCLA. Proceeds from the raffle will also benefit
the Special Olympics, the Metropolitan YMCA, and other charities
serving children.

Tickets can only be purchased online at www.netraffle.org.