Isaiah Thomas Led The Celtics Onto The Floor In His Emotional First Game After His Sister’s Tragic Crash

There are no words to describe what Isaiah Thomas must be going through tonight. On Saturday morning, his sister, Chyna, passed away at the age of 22 in a car accident. One day later, it sounds like Thomas plans on playing in the Celtics’ first game of the 2017 postseason.

TNT’s Dennis Scott reported that Thomas’ workload tonight will be dependent on what he thinks is best. As Scott said, “It may be one minute, it may be 40 minutes, it’s totally up to him.”

The people of Boston are coming together and rallying around their star in his time of need. Prior to warm-ups for Sunday’s game, Thomas led the team out of the tunnel, which led to a massive ovation from the Celtics faithful.

https://twitter.com/highkin/status/853733989236035590

https://twitter.com/highkin/status/853738513392709632

We got a few glimpses into how emotional Thomas was during warmups. At pregame shootaround, he took some time to himself and got consoled by a member of the Celtics’ organization.

https://twitter.com/World_Wide_Wob/status/853732544088592384

Additionally, his sneakers on Sunday will pay homage to his sister.

Prior to the game, Celtics coach Brad Stevens met with the media and discussed Thomas’ situation. At the time, it was still up in the air whether Thomas would play, as Stevens said that Thomas was “struggling” and encouraged him to do whatever he felt was right.

Stevens also wanted Thomas to know that it’s ok to embrace whatever emotions he is feeling and let them out.

You can watch Stevens’ full comments about Thomas here.

As Scott said, whether he plays one minute or for a long period of time, it sounds like Thomas is going to suit up.