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The Boston Celtics All-Star point guard is not taking this one lightly. Truth is that Rondo knows quite well that this is a huge deal for him and that he cannot leave it to that Boston Celtics to make the big calls. So that is why he has gone to big effort to consult with various well-known specialists and he is currently trying to figure out which option is best for him. The 26-year-old point guard will certainly miss the rest of the season, but the Celtics management, including it’s president of basketball operations Danny Ainge, believes firmly that Rondo would be back in shape for the training camp in fall.

Rondo suffered a the tear in his ACL on January 25 late in a double overtime loss to the Atlanta Hawks. For a moment there it seemed as if this was going to be a huge hit for the already hurting Celtics who were 20-23 for the season before the injury. Many sports commentators believed that this would be a big hit for Boston, who play most of it’s offensive moves through the talented and fast-paced point guard. Considering that both Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce are in what could be their last few seasons in the NBA, the much younger Rondo gave the Celtics a good balance between experience and the eagerness of youth. Still, Boston is now 6-0 without Rondo, and so far this season, they’ve managed to do quite well without their all-star point guard.

According to a report published by Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, Rondo has been visiting distinct doctors around the country to try to figure out who’ll be doing the procedure and what procedure. It seems as if there are plenty of high-profile options out there. For what we can compile, Rondo’s first  appointment went with Dr. James Andrews, who repaired Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson’s torn ACL, and then he went over to the renowned Vail, Colorado, surgeon Dr. Richard Steadman. In addition, Celtics team physician Dr. Brian McKeon, who performed knee surgeries on Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins and Tony Allen, also has consulted with the point guard and could perform the surgery himself if needed.

The positive news here is that Rondo only suffered a partial tear of the ACL. And yet there are way too many options to sort through. “One doctor will tell you, ‘You need to use the patella tendon,’ and another will say, ‘Basketball players who use the patella will have tendinitis when they come back,’” Danny Ainge said in a press conference. “And another doctor will say, ‘When we get in there, we’ll be able to see if we can attach the hamstring, and sometimes intertwine that with a cadaver tendon.’ There’s a lot of different methods, and I think Rajon is just trying to figure out which is best for him.” We hope he has a prompt and complete recovery. Regardless of whether the Celtics can make this one work out and make it into the Playoffs, it’s always good to see a talented player like this guide his team.

This is a bit hit for the Boston Celtics but it’s hard to say how much of an impact the absence of Rajon Rondo is going to have on the team on the long run. For starters, at 21-23 for the season, this is certainly not the best regular season ever for the Celtics. Sure enough there has been plenty of space for improvement and some adjustments have had to be made during the stretch. But the aging team that the talented Rondo has been making passes to has been inconsistent and despite been able to win some key games against top-notch rivals, they’ve also drop games against lesser rivals and this inconsistency could prove fatal for their playoffs chances down the stretch. The injury was announced during the Celtics 100-98 double overtime win at the Boston Garden against their rivals the Miami Heat on Sunday.

At first it seemed as if Rondo would only miss one game for it was believed that the 4-time All-Star only had a hyperextended knee. But soon enough the medical examiners realized that it was something much more complicated. After a couple tests, the results came back and he was diagnosed with a torn ACL on his right knee. This sort of injury can take up to a year to fully recover from after the patient undergoes surgery to repair the ligaments. The report was not given out to players during the game. The Celtics organization wanted to keep the upsetting knews from their players after the end of the game. “Obviously the Rondo news is tough,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said after the game. “I knew before the game, but I didn’t tell anyone. Obviously it was pretty emotional.”

The player that the Celtics wanted to build their team around suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee late in Friday night’s 123-112 win, also in double overtime, in Atlanta. And things couldn’t have had a worse timing. The Celtics veteran forward, and one of Rondo’s closest friends, Kevin Garnett, took the bad news quite harshly. “It was a big blow to everybody in here, me included,” Garnett said. “Man, that hurt. It’s tough. We had a tough game, came in, and he told the whole team in the locker room. It’s tough, tough on everybody (…) he is becoming the heart and soul of this team. He’s coming into his own. Had some bumps in the road, but we’re just trying to be supportive for him.”

Truth is that many fans are starting to look at it that same way. For starters it is clear that the Celtics cannot keep on relying on Paul Pierce and Keving Garnett to make things happen. This two phenomenal players are at the very end of their careers and the Celtics need to find new talent to stock around Rondo. On the one hand, the starting point guard for the Eastern Conference All-Start team was averaging 13.7 points, 11.1 assists and 5.6 rebounds in 38 games this season. Courtney Lee will now take his place: the 27-year-old backup point guard has had four years of experience among the pro’s, but this will be the first time he comes out as a starter regularly. Let’s see what he can do for this squad now that Rondo is gone.

The Celtics are looking flawed, tired, and old. And that’s certainly not what this team is. But considering that the Detroit Piston were coming back from a long trip oversees and that they didn’t get enough sleep, let alone time to recover from the jet-lag and time adjustments from losing their game against the New York Knicks in London, the Celtics should have been better. The Pistons made it look too easy. The blew up an 18-point second quarter lead before opening the gap once again to finally crushing Boston 103-88 at the Palace of Auburn Hills. The Pistons moved the ball around quickly and just kept on firing easy wide-open shots from behind the three-point arch. It just wasn’t going to happen for Boston last night. Sure enough Kevin Garnett guided the pack with 16 points for Boston, while the talented Rajon Rondo had eight points, 15 assists and nine rebounds. But the Celtics starting point guard also had nine turnovers, which contributed to the Pistons building up the lead again in the second half.

This is the Celtics third straight loss in a row, and a mark that sets them up with a 20-20 record for the season. Certainly not what fans are expecting and quite clearly, not what Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo had in mind when they opted to stick together for yet another season. For the last 5 years the Celtics have been a force to be reckoned with in the Eastern Conference, making it deep into the Playoffs but not been able to repeat their first title since the original big three came to be. Now with Ray Allen gone, in what many considered a bit of a betrayal, to their arch-enemy the Miami Heat, it seems as if the Celtics have not been able to stay consistent. They’ve won great games against very thought rivals, but they also lose against some of the weaker teams in the league. And quite clearly, there is something going on, there’s something that’s not working right, a piece that is missing in the puzzle and head coach Doc Rivers is starting to feel the pressure.

He knows that they can afford to have players performing in such an uneven level. They need to start working as a group, find a way to mix up the enormous experience with the speed and strength of it’s younger players and make this thing work. “We are playing awful and I am clearly not doing my job for this team and I am serious,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “I am not trying to take a bullet for the team and I told them that. I said we have to find something where all 12 guys play the same way.” Because quite frankly there is no reason why the Celtics couldn’t even managed to lead once in their game against the Detroit Pistons.

Rookie Andre Drummond had 16 points and seven rebounds for the Pistons. Greg Monroe, Brandon Knight and Will Bynum scored 15 points apiece for Detroit to round up a solid team effort. Sure enough, at 15-25 for the season, there’s plenty of room for improvement for the Pistons. But a win like these could help them built up the momentum and turn things around.

At the beginning of the year, we had some high hopes for the Boston Celtics. Sure enough we were well aware of the usual concerns: the core is getting too old, they have too much mileage in their legs and they won’t be winning another title anytime soon. Then we realized there was a bit more than that when Ray Allen decided to move on with his career and leave the Celtics for the Miami Heat. That’s right, he went on to play with their rival team for less money and with far less guarantees. So, yes, on the one hand, we could tell that there were some internal issues going on in what seemed to be Doc Rivers perfect ship. Now, don’t get me wrong here, the Boston Celtics are still a team that can put on a fight and on a good day, they have the talent, the experience and the prowess to defeat any team in the league. The issue here is that those good days are not happening as often as Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo would wish they did.

And that ultimately makes a big difference and that’s sort of what happened in the third quarter against the Sacramento Kings when the Celtics just failed to stay in contention and Isaiah Thomas just broke hell lose on the C’s defense and helped the Kings take a 118-96 win over Boston. At 11-19 for the season, the Sacramento Kings are certainly not the sort of team that is turning a lot of heads this season. But even when their usual lineup was pretty banged up and on the injury list, (Aaron Brooks has an injury in his left ankle and Tyreke Evans hurt his left knee) head coach Keith Smart managed to find a way to make it all work. And work they did. This was their second-best scoring effort of the season. And even though at 14-16 for the season and with their three game skid behind them the Celtics are not at their best, the Kings certainly looked quite empowered handing a loss like such to Boston.

The biggest surprise of the night came via the small-framed point guard Isaiah Thomas who had 27 points and 5 rebounds against Boston. The 5’’9’, 185 lbs rookie got things rolling early on the game. He really revitalized the team, gave them a good lift. “That guy has an infectious personality,” said Keith Smart about his rarely used point guard. “He has that magnetism that brings players and people around to him. He brought that energy to start the game off right with him in the starting lineup. All our guards do a great job, but what he’s been able to do is kind of give us a little injection of the steam that we need. He’s done that, plus he’s making his shots.”

DeMarcus Cousins came back from his team-mandated suspension with a bit of anger. And he made the Celtics pay for it, finishing the night with a triple-double that included 12 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. The Kings took a six-point lead midway through the third quarter and they never looked back. The Celtics were just simply out of it and the Kings made the most out of the situation.