Don Chavez

A reader sent me an article from the Boston Globe, about Ray Allen and his pre-game ritual. The guy basically takes a nap everyday at the same time, eats the same meal, cranks one out, shaves his head, hits the shoot around, then counts the number of bolts on the floor of the Boston Garden before every game. Alright, well maybe not to that extreme, but you get the point. Allen has OCD.

He will line up for the tip exactly as he has for his other 73 games. His pregame ritual does not waver: a nap from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m., a meal of chicken and white rice at 2:30, an arrival time at the gym at precisely 3:45 to stretch. Allen will shave his head, then walk out to the court at exactly 4:30. He will methodically take shots from both baselines, both elbows, and the top of the key.

If there are any true Atlanta fans out there, they would have been calling Ray’s hotel room non-stop for the past 90 minutes

Ray’s obsession with routine has struck a chord with Rondo, who confesses, “I probably have OCD myself.” The point guard must wash his hands twice at the nine-minute mark of every game. When teammates and fans high-five him, he offers a closed fist to ward off germs.

Allen has become his role model, and Rondo has started showing up at the arena three hours before the game to mimic Ray’s routine.

Doc Rivers and the rest of the Celtics regime must be ecstatic that the Ray Allen OCD virus has only spread to Rajon Rondo. Could you imagine what this team would be like if Kevin Garnett was drinking Ray Allen’s Kool Aid? The team would be averaging 20 points a game because nobody would shoot the ball unless they passed it around in the exact same order every time.

Boston.com