Rajon Rondo Flagrant Foul: Minor Incident Being Blown Out of Proportion by Heat

Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo made a dumb move by grabbing Dwyane Wade as he drove the basket at the end of a hard-fought game on opening night. He was charged with a flagrant foul and that should have been the end of it.

Instead, the Miami Heat have gone on the attack and made it into a big deal. Brian Windhorst of ESPN reports Wade described it as a "punk play" and LeBron James immediately heaped praise on his teammate for not retaliating.

What? These type of things happen all the time, especially when two rival teams have just endured 48 minutes of intense basketball. Tensions run high and players make poor decisions, it isn't some type of novel concept.

More importantly, Rondo was in a position to do far more damage to Wade than he did. Clearly frustrated, he just grabbed him from behind and took the foul. He didn't throw him to the floor like he easily could have.

Call Rondo a sore loser if you want, but he could have taken the situation to a whole different level if he really wanted to. Instead, he decided to back off. Again, these type of things happen when two teams that don't like each other get together.

The two players have a history together, which includes Rondo getting hurt after an encounter during the playoffs last season. Therefore, it doesn't make much sense that the Heat are throwing charged words around and acting like they are completely shocked by the incident.

In reality, it makes them look a bit soft. The NBA has always been at its best when fierce rivalries were driving the game forward, but it's tough to get that same feel when the best team in the league starts complaining about a hard-nosed foul.

Unfortunately, the two teams don't meet again until late January. The Celtics probably would have liked to play again next week because it's clear what Rondo did was able to get under the skin of the defending champions.

By January, it will be a non-story like it should have been from the start. While Rondo deserves some criticism for what he did, the Heat deserve just as much for creating a fake controversy.

The incident certainly wasn't the big deal they made it out to be.