Thomas denies ‘mother’ talk
CELTICS NOTEBOOK
WALTHAM — Isaiah Thomas drove hard — verbally — at Dennis Schroder yesterday, strongly countering the Hawks guard’s claim that Thomas had brought family into the trash-talking that went on during Friday’s Celtics victory in Atlanta.
“I’m playing basketball,” Schroder said following the game. “If he thinks that he got to curse at my mom or say some dumb stuff about my family, that has nothing to do with basketball. That’s his choice. I’ve got too much class for that. Next one, we are going to get it.”
Well, Schroder got it from Thomas before Celtics practice yesterday.
“I don’t talk about nobody’s moms,” said Thomas, whose 19-footer with 2.4 seconds left won Friday’s game. “I don’t cuss at nobody’s moms, and I don’t talk about people’s families. So whatever he said, that’s a 100 percent lie, and he knows that. Because I always say keep it hoop. When it comes to basketball, I talk about basketball.
“And I’m going to trash talk, and I’m going to compete. I’m going to do whatever I can to make my team win a game. But I don’t bring parents in it. I don’t bring family. I don’t even know his mom to curse at her like he said I did, or whatever he’s lying about.
“From this point on, I don’t even want to talk about Dennis Schroder because he’s not even on the level that I’m trying to be on. I’m not even focused on him anymore.”
Thomas, who had left Philips Arena before hearing of Schroder’s comments, was stunned to learn about them.
“Yeah,” he said, “It’s disrespectful to my character, because I don’t ever go there. And my mom called me that night, too, mad, and saying, ‘ Why would you?’ And she knows I don’t go there. Like I said, when it comes to basketball, it’s strictly basketball. It’s not about anybody’s family or anybody’s parents, because I wouldn’t want them to do that to mine.”
Toe the line
The word war between Thomas and Schroder wasn’t the only C’s battle of the week. There was some heavy back and forth during Wednesday’s win over Washington, and it escalated afterward, with Jae Crowder poking at John Wall and the latter slapping back. There was another “meeting” in the hallway, as police and security personnel got between members of the teams in the space between Garden dressing rooms.
On Saturday, the NBA handed down fines of $25,000 to Crowder and $15,000 to Wall, Crowder getting the larger penalty “for attempting to escalate the situation after exiting the playing court.”
“I mean, I’m not surprised,” coach Brad Stevens said.
On the matter of wanting the Celts to be aggressive — or, in the words of Red Auerbach, “instigators” — Stevens pointed to a key difference.
“There’s a line,” said Stevens. “There’s a line. You’ve got to be aware of the line, and the league handled it the way that they thought was best appropriate, and certainly I’m not surprised by the findings.”
Medical report
There was good news and bad news at practice. Avery Bradley returned to full participation after missing four games with a strained right Achilles tendon, increasing the possibility he will return for tonight’s game against Charlotte at the Garden.
On the other hand, Kelly Olynyk rolled his ankle while going through a shooting drill before practice and did not take part in the session. The 7-footer went down after being inadvertently tripped up by one of the youngsters here with team personnel who was passing by on the perimeter.
Tyler Zeller (sinus infection) hasn’t played since Dec. 29 in Cleveland, and did not practice.
“But he is feeling a lot better and he is getting closer to a return to play,” Stevens said. “He went through a ton, a gamut of tests, and I don’t want to misstate it because the words were bigger than my vocabulary.”
According to the coach, there was the original diagnosis of sinusitis, and “some viral issues up in his ear drums and his passages has caused all of this. But we feel good about how we’re moving forward.”
James Young (ankle) remains out, but Stevens said he, too, is getting closer to a return.
As for the Celtics’ ability to keep winning throughout the injury issues, Stevens said, “We’ve gotten good practice at not being with our key guys this year, so it’s just the next guy’s got to be ready to go. A lot of guys can fill in, not trying to replace one guy with another guy, but rather by committee, and take Avery’s 18 points and seven rebounds and defense and figure out a way for each of us to add collectively to cover for that.”