HIP WRECK AT C’S
Thomas done for rest of playoffs due to FAI injury
CLEVELAND — Isaiah Thomas, after one of the greatest scoring seasons in franchise history, not to mention a postseason marked by personal tragedy and physical strife, has been shut down for the rest of the playoffs by the Celtics two games into the Eastern Conference finals.
Thomas aggravated an existing injury that team physician Dr. Brian McKeon yesterday termed a right femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) with labral tear in the right hip. Thomas experienced the FAI flare-up in the first half of Friday’s Game 2 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and it was painful and limiting enough to keep him out of the second half.
“Isaiah has worked tirelessly to manage this injury since it first occurred,” McKeon said in a prepared statement yesterday. “The swelling increased during the first two games against Cleveland, and in order to avoid more significant longterm damage to his hip, we could no longer allow him to continue.”
According to McKeon, Thomas has been playing with the FAI for a significant amount of time, dating to March 15, when he first suffered the injury against Minnesota.
Thomas ran into further trouble during the Game 6 loss to Washington in the conference semifinals. He played through the hip trouble, however, tolerating it along with lingering effects from dental surgery after absorbing an inadvertent elbow to the mouth from the Wizards’ Otto Porter Jr. in Game 2.
Michael Zarren, the Celtics’ assistant general manager, took to Twitter with the following post: “Can’t say enough about #thelittleguy @ Isaiah_Thomas - last month one of the guttiest performances (thru all sorts o’ stuff) I’ve ever seen.”
Thomas’ world was rocked the day before the start of the playoffs with news that his younger sister, Chyna, died in a car crash just outside Seattle on April 15. Thomas flew to Tacoma, Wash., twice during the first-round series against Chicago, the second time to speak at his sister’s funeral.
Thomas never missed a game, hitting his peak with 53 points against Washington on May 2.
The C’s, already in an 0-2 hole in their best-of-seven series against the defending champion Cavaliers, clearly will be limited for the remainder of the conference finals, which shifted to Quicken Loans Arena for Game 3 tonight.
“I think for IT not to play, he’d have to have one of his legs cut off or something,” Celtics veteran Gerald Green said after Thomas didn’t return for the second half of Game 2.
As coach Brad Stevens later noted, Thomas’ performance started to dip following the Game 6 aggravation in Washington.
“He went through a bunch of different testing (last) Saturday and Sunday, was able to play. Monday, hasn’t felt great either of the two days,” Stevens said. “But today I thought he looked much different in the first half. When we went back to the locker room, our training staff and doctors got with him. He was pretty despondent not to be able to play.
“I mean, that guy is a tough guy, and he plays through a lot. For him to have to sit is really hard.”