7.17.2020

Isaiah Thomas Comes Up Big


February 26, 2016

There was a time when Isaiah Thomas would surprise opponents, a time when his height was a curiosity and a novelty. Look at that short player scoring all those points. Look at him go.

But that time, clearly, has passed. Thomas is an All-Star now. He is the one defenses are designed to stop. And that focus has led him to reinvent himself, if only slightly.



"Teams are trying to really slow me down and put different guys on me and keep me seeing two guys at once when I come off pick and rolls," he said. "So I'm just trying to give them something different each and every time down, and my teammates are doing a hell of a job of separating, getting in my vision, and I'm just trying to make plays to get them going."

With less than a minute left in the Celtics' game against the Bucks on Thursday, with Boston clinging to a 4-point lead, Jae Crowder got into Thomas's vision. He was alone in the right corner, and Thomas remembered that as he carved through the lane. Then, somehow, he whipped a no-look, over-the-shoulder pass with his left hand across the court to Crowder, whose 3-pointer all but sealed the Celtics' 112-107 win.

Afterward, everyone was gushing about that pass. They called it unbelievable and great and a heck of a pass. Thomas was more modest.

"I'm glad [Crowder] stayed in that corner and made me look good," he said.

Thomas finished with 27 points and seven assists, as the Celtics won their ninth consecutive game at TD Garden and shook off any lingering frustration from a disappointing road trip out West.
Amir Johnson had been scuffling in a reduced role recently, failing to reach double figures in scoring in any of the Celtics' last 18 games. But in this game he was active and effective, finishing with 15 points and eight rebounds.

"I thought he was really ready and really engaged," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. "And I think a great way to gauge that is the offensive rebound tip-dunks. Just the energy around the rim was excellent. And we need him. We need him."

On Feb. 9, Greg Monroe and the Bucks used their length and size to bully the Celtics in a 112-111 win. On Thursday, the Celtics were focused on offsetting that length by striking quickly, particularly off of turnovers, when the Bucks would have more difficulty setting their defense. And for long stretches, the pace was frenetic.

"You want to run as much as you can and you want to score off broken plays as much as you can," Stevens said, "because when they get their defense set, they're hard to play against." Johnson and Crowder dominated the first quarter, combining for 23 points and nine rebounds as the Celtics raced to a 35-25 lead. Boston stretched its edge to as many as 17 points in the second period before going to halftime ahead 62-52. The Celtics shot 55.6 percent from the field in the opening half despite missing all 9 of their 3-point attempts.

The Celtics started the third quarter with an 11-3 run, as Thomas fired a no-look pass to Johnson, whose layup gave Boston its largest lead, 73-55. Moments later, though, Crowder picked up his fifth foul. Stevens said that last year, Crowder would not even have been in the game at that point. "I would've taken him out with four and been nervous to put him back in," he said.

But Stevens's thinking has evolved, as has his trust in this team. This was a rare instance where the gamble hurt the Celtics. With Crowder on the bench, the Bucks pecked away. A jumper by Monroe with 8:49 left in the fourth quarter pulled them within 7 points and then an alley-oop to Jabari Parker made it 96-91 with 5:31 remaining.

The Celtics were still clinging to a 5-point lead when Avery Bradley and Thomas hit back-to-back 3-pointers over a 34-second stretch, the second pushing the Celtics' lead back to 106-95.
Milwaukee closed within 106-102 in the final minute, but with 50.6 seconds left Thomas completed his dazzling pass to Crowder for his 3-pointer, and the Celtics soon completed their win.

"We locked eyes right before the defender came over and I didn't know if he was gonna find a way to get it to me," Crowder said. "But he saw me for sure before the defender came over. It was a hell of a pass."

All five Boston starters scored 14 points or more. The Celtics were not flawless — they committed 16 turnovers and made 5 of 23 3-pointers — but they were resilient. And as the regular season begins to wind down, that will be an important trait.

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