"Beyond the devastation to the Celtics, through the haze of an improbable, double-overtime victory over Miami without Rajon Rondo on Sunday, there looms a harsh reality: Rondo's season-ending torn ACL could bring an end to the Celtics of this era for good.

The emotional scene in Boston, with Rondo watching as the Celtics held off the Heat 100-98, and then embracing coach Doc Rivers in the tunnel afterward, was one more display of the greatness of these Celtics -- the fight, the unbreakable heart of a champion. But reality hit these Celtics like a thunderclap after the game, when Paul Pierce learned Rondo's fate in the postgame interview on the court and Rivers told the players in the locker room that they'd lost their leader, their engine.

Rivers had carried the news of Rondo's injury with him through 58 minutes of hard-nosed, Boston basketball on a Sunday afternoon. Afterward, the heart and soul of the Celtics was not willing to concede that this was the end.

"You can write the obituary," Rivers said. "But I'm not."