Celts do IT to Wizards
Thomas scores 53 in OT win
On what would have been his late sister Chyna’s 23rd birthday, Isaiah Thomas honored the date as only he can.
“She would have been 23 today, so the least I can do is go out there and play for her,” he said.
The guard scored 53 points, the second-highest total in franchise playoff history, in a 129-119 overtime win against the Washington Wizards last night in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, giving the Celtics a 2-0 series lead. John Havlicek holds the playoff record with 54 points against Atlanta in April 1973.
After playing with a heavy heart since April 15 — the day Chyna died in a car crash just outside Seattle — Thomas had the additional burden yesterday of playing a day after dental surgery. He lost a tooth in a collision with Otto Porter’s elbow in Game 1.
Thomas showed up yesterday — after returning to the hospital for extra work — with a swollen mouth and a specially designed mouth guard, which he immediately tested when his face hit the floor early in the first half. But as he said, this was the least he could do.
“It just wasn’t a good day for me with it being my sister’s birthday, me being in the hospital for three or four hours today,” he said. “I just didn’t have the energy. But once I got around the guys, got to the arena, I felt like I could go. And I told (Brad Stevens) I could. There was no way I couldn’t play on her birthday. I wanted to win for her. I wanted to play well for her. So luckily we got the win.”
And in the process, Thomas became locked in a scoring duel with the other headliner in this series, Wizards All-Star John Wall. Wall scored 40 points, including 17 in the second half, though he only had five in the fourth quarter and suffered through an 0-for-3, scoreless OT.
Wall wasn’t alone. Kelly Oubre was the only Wizards player to score in extra time with five points, including a period-opening 3-pointer.
But Thomas was heating up as Wall cooled off, scoring 20 points in the fourth and coming back with nine of the Celtics’ 15 points in OT, including a 10-foot pull-up for the final score with 15.4 seconds left.
“It is unbelievable. It’s been a lot of fun just watching him work, perform, making the right plays,” teammate Al Horford said. “It’s hard in the heat of the moment to know when to pass when you’ve got it going like that. Isaiah seems so poised at that time, making the right decision when to pass, when to shoot.
“You can’t be mad at him because he’s scoring the ball so well when he’s taking shots. He just has that feel. Not a lot of people have that feel to do both, and he can do it. I didn’t know he had that many points. I suddenly looked up and he had 51, and I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ He’s just steady, steady, steady, and the credit goes to him after going through everything he’s been going through and with the tooth and everything. A lot of guys wouldn’t have even played this game. It’s something special, after what he’s gone through in the last 36, 48 hours, to go out and drop 53. That’s special.”
With chants of “MVP” hitting an overtime crescendo, and with Wall matching every big shot, Thomas became the first sub-6-footer to score 50 or more points in a playoff game since 1964, according to stat guru Dick Lipe.
The Wizards lost Marcin Gortat within the first minute of overtime with the center’s sixth foul, but Oubre bit a corner 3 to break the 114-114 regulation tie.
Horford scored off a Thomas feed, and after a front-rimmed jumper by Markieff Morris, Isaiah split the lane with a floater.
Avery Bradley, suffering from a hip pointer throughout the night, stole the ball from Wall at midcourt and dunked off the break for a 120-117 lead with 2:22 left.
This time Wall hit the front of the rim from downtown, and Thomas drove on three defenders with a layup that crawled over the rim for a 122-117 lead.
Oubre dunked, but Thomas hit a lane jumper over Morris, also drawing the power forward’s sixth foul and leaving Washington without its two best big men.
Thomas hit the free throw for a 125-119 Celtics lead with 1:07 left.
The run was on, with Horford and Thomas finishing off the Wizards in the final minute.