Isaiah Thomas’s otherworldly performance adds to legend
COMMENTARY
At some point this postseason, the Celtics will realize that there are no extra points awarded for degree of difficulty. Maybe they’ll even figure it out before it’s too late, when there are no more games to be played and no more comebacks left to make.
But one can’t totally blame them for making it so tough on themselves. If they made it easy, none of us would get to savor the fun of watching Isaiah Thomas bail them out.
In a season in which the 5-foot-9-inch guard provided consistent brilliance (not to mention nearly 30 points per game) to the Celtics, he delivered a tour de force even by his usual standards Tuesday night at TD Garden. Thomas scored 53 points — including 20 in the fourth quarter and 9 more in overtime — to outduel the Wizards’ John Wall (40 points) and lead the Celtics to a multi-comeback 129-119 overtime victory and a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.
“Two great players played well,’’ said Wizards coach Scott Brooks, who apparently dabbles in understatement.
But in the end, the stage was Thomas’s, and what a solo act he put on. The performance was the second-highest scoring total in Celtics’ playoff history, and just the fourth of at least 50 points.
Only John Havlicek, who scored 54 points on April 1, 1973 in Game 1 of a first-round series with the Atlanta Hawks, has surpassed it.
“I didn’t know I was close to 50,’’ said Thomas after the game. “I was just so locked in that fourth quarter and overtime because I wanted to win so bad that I didn’t know what I had.
“It’s nice for your name to be in Celtics history because of all the great players, but until you win one of those championships, you can’t call yourself a great player until you do that. That is the ultimate goal.”
Long-term goals aside, Thomas remains the definition of resilient in the moment, and not entirely in ways having to do with basketball. This enjoyable Celtics playoff run has been accompanied by unimaginable sadness.
Thomas’s 22-year-old sister Chyna was killed in a car accident April 15. Her funeral was Saturday in Tacoma, Wash., and Thomas has somehow been navigating a relentless itinerary with staggering poise.
Thomas scored 25 points in the first-round-series clinching win over the Bulls Friday, flew to Tacoma and delivered a eulogy Saturday, arrived back in Boston for Game 1 of the Wizards series Sunday, got a tooth knocked out, and still scored 33 points in a Celtics win.
He spent Monday getting six hours of dental work done, and had to return Tuesday when, as he said after the game, his mouth was so swollen that he could barely talk.
After his performance Tuesday, his colleagues were at a loss for words.
“What else is there to say about him?’’ said Celtics coach Brad Stevens. “He was not feeling good and was having a tough day. I thought he was really going to have to gut this one out. He not only guts it out, he ends up with 50. Pretty impressive.”
Well actually, 53 coach. That’s remarkable enough. But for Thomas, it cannot be easy to play on. And yet he finds a way to play beyond our imagination. Tuesday night, however, surpassed all other previous performances, and not just because of basketball. It would have been Chyna’s 23rd birthday.
When asked on TNT’s broadcast immediately following the game how he conjured up such a performance, Thomas replied, “My sister. Everything I do is for her and she’s watching over me.”
His grace in the face of tragedy has only enhanced his connection to Boston. Thomas has been a Celtic for not even three full seasons, and yet he is on his way to achieving permanent icon status.
His charisma, poise, production and fearlessness despite being the smallest player on the court has made him a player beloved across all demographics.
“He’s a good player, and I think he’ll just keep getting better, because I’ve never seen him not,’’ said Stevens, who noted that Thomas has improved significantly as a shooter since joining the Celtics. “It’s all he does. He just keeps getting better.”
The Celtics started slowly again in Game 2, falling behind, 16-8, when Wizards center and 1980s movie villain Marcin Gortat slammed home a dunk exactly halfway through the first quarter. But the Celtics rallied per usual, seizing their first lead, 59-58, on an Al Horford 3-pointer with 2 minutes and 11 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Wizards took a 67-64 lead into the break behind Wall’s 20 points and nine assists. Thomas had 20 for the Celtics, and little did we know he was just getting started.
The Wizards bolted out to a 81-67 lead slightly more than seven minutes into the second half. But again, the Celtics dipped into that reservoir of resilience, and by the end of the quarter trailed just 89-84.
Then, Thomas seized the stage, as he has so often done in the fourth quarter this season. He scored 20 points on a variety of drives, pull-ups, and free throws.
He drove and banked a shot — plus drew a foul and hit the free throw — to tie it at 99-99 with 7:36 left. After the Wizards build a 110-104 lead, Thomas hit a 3 at 2:30 to cut the margin to 3, then found Game 2 breakout star Terry Rozier for a tying 3.
Thomas’s jumper with 47 seconds left put the Celtics up 1 (112-111), and later he hit a pair of free throws to tie it at 114-114, forcing overtime.
His domination carried over to overtime — he had 29 of the Celtics’ final 45 points — and when his drive through the heart of the Wizards defense made it 122-117, chants of “M-V-P, M-V-P” broke out in the Garden.
In the NBA, this is the year of Russell Westbrook and James Harden in terms of individual performances. But watching Thomas seize the stage Tuesday — and knowing all that he is enduring — we must at least hear the crowd’s argument on his behalf.
“He’s unbelievable,’’ said Rozier, shaking his head. “It’s just time after time after time. He just gets it done.”
