Rondo unable to leg it out

Doc Rivers said he didn’t know Rajon Rondo’s strained left hamstring would keep him out of yesterday’s 100-75 win over the Nets until about a half-hour before the game.

Nate Robinson got the word long before.

“I knew at shootaround,’’ Robinson said.

So when Rivers came to Robinson and told him he’d be starting for Rondo for the fourth time this season, it was hardly a shocker.

“I don’t stress it,’’ Rivers said. “I probably should stress it, I don’t. We don’t make a big deal of it. I just walked in, I didn’t even say, ‘You’re starting.’ I said, ‘Nate, you’re guarding . . . ’ So he assumed the other guy wasn’t playing. We just moved on. We don’t try to make a big deal of an injury or anybody’s absence. We just keep playing.’

obinson is averaging 7.0 points per game, but 17.8 in his four games as starter. It’s a fringe benefit of playing with four future Hall of Famers.

“It’s easier with the starters for him, because he’s not the focal point at all,’’ Rivers said. “Where with the second unit, [opponents] want to stop Nate because they know his offense is big for our second unit. With the starters, he’s the afterthought. There was twice where they were trapping, and they left Nate. He doesn’t get that a lot with the second unit.’’

Robinson said, “It’s just that the first unit, they’re vets, they know how to play the game. Younger guys, we try not to make mistakes. At the same time, we’re still trying to play Celtics basketball. I just think as we continue to grow and watch the first group, I think the second unit will continue to get better gradually.’’

Rivers said he might consider sitting Rondo for a stretch of games if needed.

“We get a two-day break after this, and that’s one of the things that went into this [thinking]. We’re just going to try to get through it.’’

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Playing in pain Shaquille O’Neal is experiencing the same knee soreness that caused him to miss five games last month, but with the Celtics low on bodies (just 11 players active), he tried to play through it yesterday. He played 12 first-half minutes before taking a seat.

“[Shaq] told me before the game that he probably wouldn’t go, but we didn’t have enough players,’’ Rivers said. “He said, ‘If you just play me three or four minutes in a row, see how long I can go through halftime,’ and he was great. We needed that. We needed those minutes.’’