Rajon Rondo won two NBA titles in his 16-year career, first in 2008 with the Boston Celtics and then in 2020 with the Los Angeles Lakers in the Bubble. So, when Rondo appeared on the latest episode of The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis, he was asked to compare the two titles.
“You can’t compare it honestly,” Rondo said. “Because 2020, we were in a bubble so we didn’t get a parade. So, I’ve only had one parade and that was the most amazing thing that’s happened to me in basketball. Just that type of love and reaction.
“To see the fans, you seen it this year but to be a part of it, to get on the duck boat, go on a tour, it was amazing,” Rondo added. “That’s the only opportunity I got to have a parade. But at that particular time when I won in 2020, my son was in the Bubble with me… that was more special.”
Rondo’s son Rajon Rondo Jr. was born in 2012 and so, wasn’t even around when his father won his first title. He did make that trip to Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida in 2020, though, and was with his father during the title celebrations.
Lifelong Laker Rajon Rondo enjoying a title with his son 💜💛 pic.twitter.com/uGS8bJ6M04
— Lakers Outsiders (@LakersOutsiders) October 12, 2020
That was indeed a very special moment and you can understand why Rondo chose 2020 over 2008. He was then asked to compare the two titles in terms of the challenges posed by the differing circumstances.
“I enjoyed the Bubble because you get to see the guy every day that you walking past,” Rondo said. “You get to see the enemy and there’s no distractions. There’s no outside, there’s no hotel flights, everybody’s in one room, there’s no excuses. It’s check ball… There’s no advantages.
“It’s my five against your best five and figure it out,” Rondo stated. “You got obviously seven games to figure it out but I love that concept of we go right to the room, then we go to film. We was able to learn a lot more during that time that I would say if we were able to go home, practice, have other distractions, don’t think about the game, but in the Bubble, that’s all you thinking about.”
The Bubble provided a very different experience than what NBA players were used to and some liked it while others didn’t. Rondo fell in the first category, as did seemingly most players on that Lakers team. They only lost five games in that whole playoff run and won the title in style by beating the Miami Heat in six games in the Finals.
As for Rondo’s Celtics team, they won that title the hard way. They ended up playing 26 games in the 2008 playoffs, an NBA record. All that hard work certainly was worth it, though, especially as the Celtics beat the Lakers, their eternal rivals, in the Finals in six games to clinch that title.
The second title made Rondo just the second player in NBA history to win a title with both the Celtics and the Lakers. Clyde Lovellette was the first to do it, winning with the Minneapolis Lakers in 1954 and then with the Celtics in 1963 and 1964. Considering Lovellette won with the Minneapolis Lakers, though, Rondo is the first to win with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics.
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