Thomas says Wizards’ fouls not getting called
Isaiah Thomas feels as though he was shut down by the Wizards and the referees in Game 4.
Thomas said after the Celtics’ 121-102 loss Sunday that the officiating needs to change as the second-round series continues after Washington played him hard in holding him to two points after the first 15 minutes.
“They were very physical. The refs were allowing them to hold and grab and do all those things,” Thomas said. “It’s got to be called differently. … I can’t be allowed to be held and grabbed every pin-down, every screen and I don’t even shoot one free throw. I play the same way each and every night.”
Thomas acknowledged that the Wizards’ 26-0 third-quarter run was the reason for the result, not the officiating. But with the series returning to Boston for Game 5 on Wednesday, he began to lobby for more calls after not going to the free throw line once.
The 5-foot-9 All-Star guard had 53 points in the Celtics’ Game 2 overtime victory and was bottled up with 13 and 19 in Washington.
“They obviously were locked into him the whole game,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said, crediting the Wizards for switching and sticking on Thomas off pickand-rolls. “They were really up into him.”
The team said backup center Nene would miss the rest of the postseason after tearing a muscle in his left thigh.
Nene was injured in the first quarter of Houston’s 125104 win over San Antonio in the West semifinals Sunday night and didn’t return. The team said it was reviewing treatment options for the
Rockets:
torn adductor muscle.
Nene, a 15-year veteran in his first season with the Rockets, averaged 10 points and 4.7 rebounds in nine postseason games this year. The 6-foot-11 player was the star of Game 4 of Houston’s firstround series against Oklahoma City when he tied an NBA record by making all 12 of his shots and scoring career playoff-high 28 points in a 113-109 win.
Point guard Kyle Lowry will opt out of the final year of his contract and test free agency this summer.
The three-time All-Star has one year and $12 million remaining on the four-year, $48 million deal he signed in July 2014.
Raptors: