NEW YORK -- Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo missed Thursday night's game against the Brooklyn Nets because of a sprained ankle. Leandro Barbosa started in his place.
"I don't actually know," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said when asked the condition of Rondo. "I pretty much assumed he wasn't going to play because of the way he was walking this morning. We just did our little walkthrough in the hotel with L.B. (Barbosa) and we'll try to play that way.
"... If he's ready to play whenever we play again, then he'll play. If he doesn't, we'll just keep moving."
Rondo suffered the injury in Wednesday night's 98-93 win against the Utah Jazz and was listed as day to day.
He landed awkwardly after a baseline drive with 4:55 remaining in the third quarter. After missing a layup, he hopped all the way across the court to the front row of seats before limping back to the bench. He soon retreated to the locker room with Celtics trainer Ed Lacerte.
Rondo is averaging 14.3 points and 12.6 assists for the Celtics (5-3), and is considered irreplaceable on a roster without a true backup point guard. Rivers also mentioned that Jeff Green could play some point forward as well in Rondo's absence.
Barbosa is averaging 5.9 points and 1.6 assists.
"He can score, bottom line," Rivers said of Barbosa. "(But) right now, he can't start our offense because he doesn't know our offense. But right now, we'll run pick and rolls, and hell, last night, I just yelled, 'Post Kevin (Garnett).' "
Information from ESPNBoston.com's Chris Forsberg was used in this report.
