Isaiah Thomas has had an eventful start to his tenure with the Cleveland Cavaliers. His first two games saw him score 17 and 19 points respectively in his return from a hip injury, and he recently got his first ejection with the Cavs on Monday as he karate chopped Andrew Wiggins in a lapse of focus and frustration.
That ejection cost him $20,000, but won’t cause him to miss any time, which is good because the Cavs need him. Injuries have hit the team pretty hard, and when you add in the desire to get stars like LeBron James some rest throughout the regular season, there’s not a lot of room for error.
The Cavs’ season has been a roller coaster ride to this point, starting off rough then resulting in a lengthy winning streak, much of that thanks to James’ outstanding performance in his 15th season in the league, before tapering back off into their most recent skid, losing five of their last seven. But even Thomas knows the Cavs need to step it up and that keeping that intensity game in and game out is difficult. After a lopsided loss to the Timberwovles on Monday, Thomas spoke to Cleveland.com and said it’s “not acceptable” for the team to have midseason lulls.
While Thomas notes he hasn’t been with the team very long, his experience and stature in the league means that he has to take on a leadership role. He said he’s very aware that it’s his time to take over.
“I’ve only played three games. I can’t say I’ve slipped into that. I’m not the type of player or person to do that,” Thomas said. “I’m still trying to get back in the thick of things, getting my rhythm, get everything back for me individually. But at the same time as a leader, we can’t have lulls.
“I know everybody says, ‘Well, this happens to this team and they’ve been to three straight Finals.’ But that’s not acceptable,” Thomas said. “I’m going to do my part to show these guys it’s not acceptable and we’ll go from there.”
Thomas getting comfortable in Cleveland is certainly a good thing, as it’s there that he’ll most likely get the best contract if he enamors himself to Cavs management and coaching. He’s certainly saying the right things off the court, even if his time on it has been brief this far.
