Rajon Rondo ruled out indefinitely with a back injury less than 24 hours after getting benched in a playoff game
According to ESPN's Marc Stein, the Dallas Mavericks are ruling Rondo out indefinitely with a back injury that he sustained in Game 2 of their first-round series with the Houston Rockets.
Rondo only played 10 minutes in Game 2 and only 34 seconds in the second half before he was benched for the Mavs' backup point guards. Was this because Rondo got injured or because Rondo has been ineffective thus far in the playoffs?
In the 37 minutes Rondo has been on the court, the Mavericks have been outscored by 36 points. Additionally, with Rondo on the court, the Mavericks are being outscored by 34 points per 100 possessions. When he's off the court, they're actually outscoring the Rockets by nearly 11 points per 100 possessions.
The Rondo trade has become a disaster for Dallas. As Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski reported, Rondo and Mavs coach Rick Carlisle don't have a great relationship, and insiders believe Rondo is as good as gone from Dallas this summer when he hits free agency.
The interesting subplot, now, is whether the Mavericks can give the Rockets a good fight the rest of the series. Though 36 minutes is a small sample size, if the numbers are to be believed, the Mavericks are actually the better team when Rondo's been sitting.