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Popovich: Rondo isn't Willis Reed

Print | Comments () Posted by Julian Benbow, Globe Staff May 14, 2011 11:58 AM

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As gruesome as it was, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich isn't bending over backwards to heap praise on Rajon Rondo for playing with a hideously dislocated elbow. The Spurs were stunned in the first round by the Memphis Grizzlies in six games. One of their key pieces, Manu Ginobili, however, was playing with a sprained elbow. He said there wasn't much difference between what Ginobili and Rondo did.

From the San Antonio Express-News:

“It’s really been hard to watch the playoffs and have them make Rondo out like Willis Reed,” Popovich said Thursday, in wide-ranging interview with the Express-News. “It’s like, Manu couldn’t even play the first game (against Memphis), and we probably shouldn’t have played him again. He went out there and worked through it, and you didn’t hear any of that kind of crap.”
“It’s like Rondo is the next coming of Willis Reed, the thing he did and the character he showed,” Popovich said. “Maybe he did show character and he was tough and all that, but it is no different than what Manu did. That just kind of angers me on a selfish level, so to speak.”