Rajon Rondo, an antihero with history: the only one to win a ring with the Lakers and Celtics

• Chronicle.The Lakers are crowned champions in the year of Kobe

Rajon Jr., one of the great protagonists of the festivities on the AdventHealth Arena track, got angry with his father last Friday.

The nine-year-old boy has been accompanying Rondo in the Orlando bubble, and that the Lakers could not solve in the fifth game against the Heat, as everything seemed and as his son asked, was a small setback that only took to fix a couple of days.

"I am a proud father."

The purple and gold reign in the NBA again and the veteran point guard, far from the brilliance of

, has emerged as the hero in the shadow of the Finals.

And not because suspicion had not loomed over her figure in a long time.

A guy in decline, who was never a shooter, who always had too much of the ball in his hands, critics pronounced.

It didn't seem like the best thing to surround LeBron and Davis.

But competitive intelligence is always worth more and after serving in 2018/2019, he

.

It was in the moments of truth that Rondo always danced more comfortably.

After missing the first round while recovering from an operation to repair a fractured thumb he had suffered in July, he has turned out to be fundamental, key from the bench and leader of a defense that was the one that finally tipped the balance (LeBron aside).

Rajon was always a quirky guy.

Never the nicest, never the most aesthetic.

Many already gave up on him, although his career, even before making history with the Lakers, was already to show off.

during the celebrations was one of the most emotional images that the night left in Orlando.

The longest wait

On the way to 36,

, and a decade after losing in the Finals to the Lakers, Rondo returned to the top.

"Surreal" was the word chosen by the point guard, who distributed 105 assists from the bench during the playoffs, and that he missed the first round through injury.

His wait between his first and second titles is the longest for an NBA player.

Earl Cureton previously triumphed with the Sixers in the 1982-83 season and with the Rockets in the 1993-94.

The basket passes are also record, as no reserve had done something similar in a playoffs.

The previous mark was

with 95 in 2014.

Rondo and LeBron, after winning the ring.Mike EhrmannAFP

But if it comes to searching for milestones, none like equaling

as the only one to be champion with the Celtics and Lakers, two of the sports entities with the greatest recognized rivalry, which this Sunday saw how their showcases were balanced with 17 rings.

Although in the case of the power forward of the 50s and 60s, you should put an asterisk: when he won the ring with the Lakers (1954), they were not even based in Los Angeles, but in Minneapolis.

In 12 years many things happened for Rondo, fundamental in those Celtics of

.

He was then a mighty young man, pure dynamite, in his second year in the NBA after training at the University of Kentucky.

Especially brilliant was the decisive game, the sixth, where the point guard was uncovered with 21 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and six steals in beating the Angelenos in the exultant TD Banknorth Garden.

Before, in the second, he had distributed 16 basket passes.

He was only 22 years old and his legend as a voracious competitor was writing his first lines.

In total, he would play nine seasons with those in green, also losing the 2010 Finals, precisely against the Lakers.

After passing through Dallas, Sacramento, Chicago and New Orleans, fate had a penultimate wink in store for him.

admitted after the victory in sixth.

"Everyone goes through a lot of things if you play for so long, 14 years. And I had early success. Many great teammates and a great team of coaches at the beginning. And I thought that was the NBA," acknowledged Rondo, especially protagonist in the tie against the Rockets.

"And, obviously, afterwards things changed for me. I was no longer expected to win the championship in the teams I was in, it was a different mentality. This season, we understood that we had a team to compete for the championship, to be able to close the circle a year later.

, "he reflected.

"It's been a long time for me. The last time I was in this situation, obviously, the result was not so good [2010 Finals], so to be able to come back, redeem myself and play a new role in this championship is definitely an incredible feeling,

"concluded Rondo, continuing to play with Rajon Jr.

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