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Dennis Schroder had looked up to Rajon Rondo all these years but on Saturday morning, the Los Angeles Lakers guard didn’t appreciate his idol’s antics on the court.
In the second quarter of the Lakers’ game versus the streaking Atlanta Hawks, Rondo was called for a technical after the two-time champion pushed the basketball right into Schroder’s head.
Rondo got a tech for bumping Schröder's face with the ball 🤨 pic.twitter.com/DDBGOxfHBs
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) March 20, 2021
Schroder reacted the right way by letting Rondo’s antics go instead of garnering a technical foul. However, during his post-game interview, the Lakers starting guard stressed that Rondo’s play was uncalled for, per ESPN's Dave McMenamin.
“I love competitors but that’s not competing. I’m going to leave it at that. That’s not basketball,” said Schroder, who was compared to Rondo when he first came to the league.
Schroder, who placed second in the last season’s Sixth Man of the Year award, is known for being someone who never backs down from a challenge. Taking the high road was the right move for him in this play especially since there was no room for the Lakers to make a mistake given that LeBron James suffered an ankle injury early in the game.
As for Rondo, the veteran has built a reputation for getting into his opponent’s skin. It’s what he did during the Houston Rockets series when he and Russell Westbrook got into it during the game. This is not a new sight for anyone who’s been following the former Laker all these years,
The Lakers dropped Saturday’s game to the Hawks, 99-94, giving them a 28-14 record as of this writing. Their biggest concern is the health of their superstars in James and Anthony Davis. They will play against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday, probably without James, whose x-ray results on his injured ankle came out negative after the game.
