Rajon Rondo Torn ACL Revealed to Paul Pierce on Live TV

Doc Rivers was given the Rajon Rondo torn ACL injury news before yesterday’s game against the Miami Heat and kept it to himself (knowing even before Rajon found out). In a world of Twitter and insta-news though, by the end of the game, the only people who didn’t know about Rondo’s injury were Rajon’s Celtics teammates.

Paul Pierce found out on the court seconds after his team’s exhilarating win from Doris Burke, who was clearly itching to be the first to tell Pierce (and be on camera doing so). You can see from the video that Pierce is clearly in shock and isn’t really able to process the information right away that in terms of potential Celtics’ championships, his season is over.

Here’s some more detail from the Boston Globe:

Rivers said Rondo was complaining of a hamstring issue and team doctor Brian McKeon declared Rondo out for the game. The guard then went to New England Baptist Hospital for the MRI. According to Rivers, McKeon knew the extent of the injury from his early examination of Rondo and told Rivers, who had to keep the news from Rondo, who was in the locker room at halftime. Rondo had yet to get the official word then, but he apparently did soon after.

Rondo was apparently injured late in the Celtics’ 123-111 double-overtime loss to the Atlanta Hawks Friday night at Philips Arena. Although he did not speak with the media Sunday, it appears he came down awkwardly attempting a floating jump shot in the second OT. He was limping slightly after the shot but continued to play.

After Friday night’s game, Rondo addressed the media and did not mention any knee injury. But concern arose when he worked out at the Garden.

“You got a lot of mixed emotions,” said forward Paul Pierce. “You wanna celebrate the win, but you feel for your teammate. Pretty much wherever he goes, we go. It’s hard knowing that he’s going to be out for the year. It’s a tough pill to swallow.

“The guys were really shocked, surprised. Because they didn’t really know. So everyone was really happy for the win. But it kind of like brought a dark cloud in this room when you heard the news. You know, we’re all brothers, we pull for each other each and every day, whether it’s Rondo or anybody across the league. You don’t like to see people get hurt. It’s just tough.”

The team hastily released the news during the third quarter after an ABC reporter got Rondo to acknowledge the injury. Scores of fans found out the news through Twitter on their cellphones, and the atmosphere at the Garden became eerie.

Rondo, in street clothes, walked down the tunnel with a slight limp during the second OT and received a raucous response when shown on the arena video screen. Flanked by security guards, Rondo told team officials who consoled him, “I’m OK, I’m OK.”

Because of the second opinion, a date for surgery has not been set.

Where do the Celtics go from here? Do they try to make a trade for a PG or just let the season play out?

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