Boston Celtics

Watch the most electric moments from Isaiah Thomas’s 53-point game against the Wizards

It's even more impressive than the box score indicates.

Isaiah Thomas reacts after hitting a 3-point shot against the Washington Wizards during the fourth quarter of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at TD Garden. Getty Images

By Gary Dzen

1 minute to read

Isaiah Thomas saved his most inspiring Celtics performance for what would have been his sister’s 23rd birthday.

Thomas scored 24 points through three quarters in Game 2 against the Wizards, then added 29 more in the 4th quarter and overtime in the Celtics’ 129-119 win. Afterward, he dedicated the game to his sister Chyna, who would have been 23 on Tuesday.

Here are the highlights from Thomas’s historic performance:

— The Celtics weren’t good in the 1st quarter –they allowed the Wizards to score 42 points — but Thomas kept Boston in the game with 15 points to John Wall’s 19.

— Thomas made much of the first-quarter scoring look easy, including this pick and roll with Al Horford.

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— Thomas scored only nine points in the second quarter — dude’s gotta rest sometime — but he found other ways to contribute, pushing the pace and finding Horford for this alley-oop.

— Does anyone split defenders as consistently well as Thomas does?

— The 4th quarter is Isaiah time, obviously.

— Isaiah doesn’t get nearly enough credit for degree of difficulty.  Using a simple screen to get by his man, this time from Marcus Smart, IT cuts through three others to get to the rim. Four Wizards are doing nothing but trying to stop him, and it doesn’t matter.

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— Thomas didn’t really even use this Horford screen, he just dribbled near it and threw up a floater.

— The play of the game was the one that put Isaiah over 50. Isolated on the mouthy Markieff Morriss, Thomas pulled up from the free throw line and knocked down an improbable fade, plus the foul.

— Here’s more of Thomas’s 29 points in the 4th quarter and overtime.