Isaiah Thomas had a career night on Friday, as the Celtics’ guard dropped 52 points in Boston’s 117-114 win over Miami. He played out of his mind, going for 29 points in the fourth quarter to help propel his team to a victory.
All year, Thomas has been awesome. The diminutive guard has been the heart and soul of a dangerous Boston squad, one that many people think is close to being great but is sorely lacking in star power. To many, the Celtics can out-hustle and out-gameplan most teams, but they don’t have that one dude to push them over the top.
According to LeBron James, this is nonsense, because the team has a “clear-cut star” in Thomas. James was discussing Kay Felder, a Cavs guard who in a lot of ways is similar to Thomas (an undersized player who was taken late in the second round of the draft but has the reputation for being able to score in bunches), when he heaped praise on the Celtics’ guard.
“They got a clear-cut star and that’s Isaiah,” James said. “The notion that they don’t have a star I think is fugazi as Donnie Brasco would say. Earlier I was watching the movie. So, they’re a good team for a reason and it starts with the head of the snake and that’s Isaiah.”
James pointed to Thomas’ craftiness, ability to get into the paint at will, smooth shooting stroke and knack for commanding the opponent’s attention, all things Thomas displayed during Thursday’s game against Cleveland where he scored 31 points, including 17 in the second quarter.
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“Kay could definitely learn from IT for sure,” James said. “He should be looking at the way Isaiah has gotten better each and every year from when he was drafted to now. Going to Phoenix and Sac and to now. Seeing where he’s gotten better over the years. He reinvented himself and playing more at a pace, but in control. Continuing to improve his jump shot. He should watch him.”
Thomas is almost certainly going to end up second in the league in scoring during the month of December, as he’s averaged 30.3 points a night this month. On the year, he’s fifth in the league in scoring (27.7 points per game) for the third-best team in the Eastern Conference. It’s safe to say that if Thomas is not a superstar, we probably have to re-examine how we all define that word.
(Via Cleveland.com)
