The beef between then-Boston Celtics teammates Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen has been rumored for years, with Kendrick Perkins initially making the claim that they fought in an impromptu boxing match. On the latest episode of FanDuel’s Run it Back, Rondo confirmed that the rumors were true.
Rondo said, “We were competitive in every facet of life…There was no point in talking about each other behind each other’s back, let’s just fight as men.” Rondo also mentioned that Tony Allen put the gloves on against Glen Davis, with the latter getting the best of that matchup.
Why Did Rondo and Allen Dislike Each Other?
As teammates, Rondo and Allen played five seasons together, winning the 2008 NBA Championship. Both players were key contributors, with Rondo distributing and Allen making jumpers. They were also at very different points in their career in 2008, with Rondo at 21 years old in just his 2nd season, and Allen at 32 years old in his 12th.
There were some on-court rifts, which Davis claims came from coach Doc Rivers not holding Allen accountable for some defensive lapses.
As former Celtic Kendrick Perkins noted, “When things started to go south, in my opinion, the first incident was when Ray was pushing so hard to trade Rondo for Chris Paul. It got back to Rondo. Right there we started having a little friction.”
Allen has claimed the issues started when trade rumors surfaced, putting Rondo and Allen in a deal for the Phoenix Suns Amar’e Stoudemire.
There’s always going to be hurt feelings when a player is included in trade talks, but it turns into a combustible situation when a player is openly pining for his teammate to be traded.
The End Result
Despite Allen’s plea to get Rondo moved, it would be Allen who left first. Allen took his talents to South Beach to pair up with LeBron James and Chris Bosh, signing with the Miami Heat as a free agent in the summer of 2012. Former teammate Kevin Garnett took the move very personally, as he told Stephen A. Smith:
“I took that so personal because out of the places you could have, you could have went to L.A., you could have went to another team. You went to the one team you knew that we was beefing with. You knew that was a reel beef with us, bro.”
Allen would make one of the more famous 3-point shots in NBA Finals history against the San Antonio Spurs in Game 6, to force overtime, where he’d score four more points to ice the win. After another season with the Heat and a failed NBA Finals run, Allen would retire after 18 seasons.
Rondo would get moved out of Boston after eight-plus seasons via a midseason trade with the Dallas Mavericks on December 18, 2014. Rondo would never be the same, playing for eight different teams over the next seven seasons, with flashes of brilliance but very little sustained. He would secure his second title as part of the 2020 NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers.
Ultimately, the ego battle between the men wasn’t settled by fisticuffs, but by father time. In what had to be a cathartic moment for everyone, Allen and Garnett embraced at midcourt in Boston during Garnett’s retirement ceremony. Paul Pierce joined, eliciting a huge reaction from the crowd. Rondo was in attendance to celebrate and the beef appeared to be over.
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Rondo Confirms Celtics Boxing Match With Allen Actually Happened