Immature.

Selfish.

Self-destructive.

Moronic.

Indefensible.

All are absolutely accurate if describing Rajon Rondo's chest-bump of referee Marc Davis with 41 seconds left in Sunday's loss to the Hawks.

Add this, please: Potentially series-altering.

Rondo will be suspended for Game 2 on Tuesday night, if history is any indication. If you make deliberate contact with an official -- and please don't try to sell me on the idea that Rondo was tripping and fell into Davis; even Tommy Heinsohn isn't buying that crapola -- you miss a game. That's the rule. You know it, I know it and Rajon Rondo sure knows it. If you asked Rondo an hour before tipoff what the punishment would be if he bumped an official on purpose, I'm almost positive he would tell you that he would be suspended.

But he couldn't help himself. Rondo was the best player on the court for 47 minutes and 19 seconds on Sunday and the biggest dope for the final 41 seconds. It was, evidently, more important for Rondo to find a way to express his frustration with an official than it was for him to play on Tuesday. How can you look at it any other way?

Bottom line: He has to know better. Look, does the NBA have a serious, serious problem with lousy officiating? Yup. It's awful, borders on amateurish. And when you have a situation like Tim Donaghy and then really do nothing to explain it, you give a voice to all the conspiracy theorists out there. So, no one trusts NBA refs on any level. And in a world of hideous officials, Davis is right at the top (or bottom, I guess). He's the worst kind of ref -- overly sensitive, thinks he's as important as the players and grossly incompetent at his job. All that is true, and all that is irrelevant when it comes to what Rondo did. 

Because Rondo knows Davis is terrible. He knows Davis is trigger-happy. He knows Davis is spoiling for a fight, to make himself part of the story. A smart, veteran player has to simply shake his head and walk away. I could almost even live with a technical foul in that spot, the Celtics probably weren't going to come back and win (down four points with 41 seconds left and the Hawks about to shoot a pair of free throws).

But Rondo couldn't help himself. We read all the time about how Rondo is "complicated" and "fascinating" and "aloof" off the court. All that stuff might be accurate, but so might this: There are attitudinal issues with Rondo that have not gone away. He had them in college, he had him early in his NBA career and they still exist today. Rondo is 26 years old, not in his NBA infancy any longer. He's played six seasons, in two NBA finals, three All-Star Games, has a $55 million contract. He's often been a brilliant player, of course, but there is always the possibility that what we saw last night is right around the corner. Rondo can be petulant, and there is no room for that anymore. He's supposed to be a leader now, the keys to the car should have been turned over. But outbursts like we witnessed Sunday suggest that perhaps he's simply not equipped emotionally to truly lead a team on his own. He allows other stuff -- referees, trades, presidents -- to impact his performance on the court. There is a mental fragility that exists, which flies right in the face of the Rondo we see on the court 99 percent of the time. 

The Celtics could lose on Tuesday and still win the series. We watched on Sunday -- this Hawks team is deeply flawed. I wouldn't even be stunned if the Celtics found a way to win without Rondo on Tuesday. But, again, we're moving away from the big picture. As much as Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce (if he plays an average game on Sunday, the Celtics are up 1-0 in this series) mean to this team, Rondo is the guy. And that is what makes his stunt on Sunday particularly loathsome. This is last-ride time for this group -- zero hour has arrived. And, incredibly, impossibly in Year 5 of the Big Three plus Rondo, there is some light at the end of the title tunnel. The Hawks aren't exactly world-beaters, Derrick Rose is gone and the Heat are, if everything goes right, beatable. 

Rondo has been lucky in his career. Plenty of guys don't get a sniff at a title; he's already won one and played in another final. There is a very good chance he'll never get there again. Who knows what happens when the Big Three leave? This could easily be Rondo's last shot at another title. And that might've been running through his mind with 41 seconds left in the game on Sunday, but instead of taking a deep breath and walking away he went with the path of least resistance and decided to bump Marc Davis.

Now he'll miss Game 2, and all questions about his attitude, leadership qualities and maturity remain very much on the table.

Hope it was worth it.