Rondo selected as All-Star Game replacement

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OKLAHOMA CIY I guess it is a happy birthday after all for Rajon Rondo.

Rondo, who turns 26 years old today, will play in the 61st annual all-star game this weekend.

A league source confirmed toCSNNE.comthat Rondo will be named as an all-star replacement for Atlanta Hawks guardforward Joe Johnson.

This will be Rondo's third straight all-star appearance. He joins Paul Pierce, who will be making his 10th all-star appearance for the C's.

The omission of Rondo from the Eastern Conference reserves announced on Feb. 9 caught some - including Rondo - off guard.

"It is what it is," Rondo said.

The Celtics and their 14-10 record at the time of the announcement certainly was a factor in the selection process by the coaches.

However, multiple league sources confirmed his omission had more to do with him missing eight games with a sore right wrist injury. Coaches had to submit their all-star reserves by Feb. 7 which meant the last impression many of them had of Rondo, was the first couple of games he played upon returning from the injury.

In his first game back, a 91-89 win over New York on Feb. 3, he had seven points and seven assists but turned the ball over five times. He followed that up with a five-point, 14-assist game in a win over Memphis, but he struggled shooting the ball (he was 2-for-6) and once again, he had five turnovers.

As he got healthier, his play began to pick up.

But by the time he dropped 32 points and 15 assists in a win over Chicago, or 35 points and six assists against Detroit, the all-star team had been set - and it didn't include him.

"Whether he plays in it or not, Rajon Rondo is an all-star," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau toldCSNNE.comprior to Rondo being chosen as an all-star replacement. "He's one of the best in the game. That's why in Boston, they're a Big Four now, not a Big Three."

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