A new, three-pronged weekly segment  focusing on the Boston Celtics.  This week’s Weave centers on the ramifications of an injury to a star player.

1. Rajon Rondo is done for the season; his 37.4 minutes per game have to be distributed elsewhere.  Four names consistently mentioned to take them are Jason Terry, Courtney Lee, Avery Bradley and Leandro Barbosa.  But Doc Rivers also brought up Jeff Green at practice on Tuesday.   He may be the Celtic who changes his game the most to handle some of Rondo’s point guard responsibilities.  Rivers pointed out that Green has taken the ball up the court with Rondo on the bench in the past.  Now that Rondo will miss the rest of the season, Green’s playing time will increase to handle even more of that responsibility.

2. Rondo has made the Celtics a better team for the past five years, but his impact on the outcomes of games has changed significantly this year.  According to 82games.com, the 2011-2012 Boston Celtics outscored opponents by an average of 4.8 points for every 48 minutes Rondo was on the floor during the regular season.  This year the opposition outscored the Celtics by 1.9 points for every full game Rondo was on the court.

It is tough to account for how much of that falls on Rondo; Boston is an older team playing a full-length season.   Four new players are playing 40 percent or more of the team’s total minutes.  If you’re searching for a more direct comparison, look at the performance of the second-best five-man unit the Celtics played last year: Rondo, Bradley, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Brandon Bass.  In the 2011-2012 regular season, that unit scored 1.13 points per possession, gave up 0.94 points per opponent possession and outscored the opposing unit 78.5 percent of the time they were on the court.  This year, that same group scored 0.92 points per possession, gave up 0.98 points per opponent possession and outscored the opposition just 36 percent of the time.

What does it all mean?  Well it could mean Rondo wasn’t as big of an asset this season as he seemed.  Using these performance measurements, one of the 2012-2013 Celtics best lineups does not involve Rondo at all: Terry, Lee, Green, Jared Sullinger and Garnett outscore opposing units two-thirds of the time they are on the floor.  And for those who think that unit is rarely used?  Those five have played the third most minutes of any Celtics unit this season.  And with all those minutes, chances are they’ve seen a little bit of everything from their opponents.

3. The Celtics play the 17-29 Sacramento Kings Wednesday night in Boston.  It is the team’s second consecutive game without Rondo, but its first with the realization that he will miss the remainder of the season.  Exactly one month ago the Kings beat the Celtics 118-96 in Sacramento.  King’s backup point guard Isaiah Thomas scored 27 points, seizing the opportunity provided by injuries to Tyreke Evans and Aaron Brooks.  DeMarcus Cousins recorded his first career triple-double.  Rondo, in his first game back from a bruised right thigh and hip, scored only two points in 36 minutes.

Wednesday night in TD Garden will feature two organizations trying to adjust to transitioning identities.  The Kings will move out of Sacramento and the Celtics will move on without Rondo.  Neither team can pretend little has changed since December 30.