ISAIAH THOMAS: ‘OTHER GUYS HAVE TO STEP UP AND MAKE PLAYS, THAT’S WHAT IT COMES DOWN TO’

ISAIAH THOMAS: ‘OTHER GUYS HAVE TO STEP UP AND MAKE PLAYS, THAT’S WHAT IT COMES DOWN TO’

WEEI

By Rob Bradford

Isaiah Thomas scored a season-low seven points Tuesday night. (Brett Davis/USA Today Sports)

ATLANTA — For just the second time during the 2015-16 campaign, Isaiah Thomas failed to reach double digits, finishing with a season-low seven points during his Celtics’ 110-83, Game 5 loss to the Hawks on Tuesday night at Phillips Arena.

Thomas also clocked in with a minus-33 in his 29 minutes, the worst plus-minus number of any Celtics player during a postseason game since the stat started being charted in 1985. But after the game, Thomas — whose exit from the game came after he hurt his left ankle in the fourth quarter — was all about what how the Hawks played him, and how his teammates did, or didn’t, respond.

“That was their game plan. They put two or three guys on me every time I touched the ball,” Thomas said. “Their game plan was to let the other guys beat us. It should be a sign of disrespect to my teammates to put two on the ball every time I have it. Other guys have to step up and make plays, that’s what it comes down to. If they try and do it again in Game 6, it comes down to other guys making plays. I’m just going to try and get the ball out as quickly as possible, out of the trap, out of the two or three guys on me. But other guys have to make shots, and other guys have to make plays for us to win.

“It’s tough for me because I feel like I can score on anything. But as a point guard I have to make the right play and I’ve got to trust my teammates. And I know once my teammates do knock down shots, or make the right play out of the double team, it’s going to open up for me throughout the game. Today it didn’t happen. But we knew they would make adjustments, and now we have to make adjustments and other guys have to step up.”

The Hawks’ strategy was apparent early on, with Thomas not able to freelance through the Atlanta defense as he had done for much of the series. Thomas failed to score a single point in the first half, marking the third time this season that has happened. This time it lead to the Celtics scoring just 39 points, while carrying an eight-point deficit into halftime.

“A team never really did what Atlanta did [Tuesday],” Thomas said. “They really had two or three guys on me the whole time. Face-guarding me. When I got it they showed all five guys. They weren’t worried about anybody else. Guys have to adjust. Guys have to make plays. And once we make shots, like we do at home, and make plays, like we do at home, they can’t do that.”


When told that Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer downplayed the Hawks’ adjustment to pay more attention to Thomas, the guard chuckled and said, “He’s lying if he’s playing it down. Obviously, their job today was make others beat us. Take the ball out of my hands. When I came off of pick-and-rolls they kept two guys on me until I passed it. They didn’t do that in Game 3. They did that throughout the game, but not the whole game in Game 4. Not as much. Today was like an emphasis on it.”

Had Thomas ever experienced anything like this? So many defenders worried about just him, without much attention at all spent toward any of his teammates?

“Back in high school,” Thomas said. “They used to do box-and-ones and stuff. But not in the NBA.”

Did he figure it out? “Yeah, I did,” Thomas quipped. “I just shot more.”

If it was only that easy.

112288

This game showed how thin the Celtics are on real talent and when players stop over achieving through hard work.

Danny will get a very good education from this series on who stays ...who goes ....and what we need in order to get back to the finals!

112288

Yes we need more depth but we knew that already. What we did not expect was to lose AB for the series. It would have been very difficult to double up on IT if Avery was playing.

Which brings me back to my emphasis on adding at least two knock down shooters with Buddy Hield at the top of my list.

dboss

Isaiah, Jae, Avery and Kelly all are nursing injuries.  Who knows if anyone else is spending more time with the trainers than with the other players on the practice floor?

I hope Brad learns a valuable lesson here.  It is nice to play for playoff seeding, but he should have played a couple of guys more in the regular season.  Rozier and Mickey come to mind.  It may cost a game or two, but those two guys should have been ready to step in for Avery and Kelly/Sully when the real season began: The Playoffs.

I hope the time between games gives them enough time to heal.  It's "All hands on deck" time!!

gyso

gyso wrote:Isaiah, Jae, Avery and Kelly all are nursing injuries.  Who knows if anyone else is spending more time with the trainers than with the other players on the practice floor?

I hope Brad learns a valuable lesson here.  It is nice to play for playoff seeding, but he should have played a couple of guys more in the regular season.  Rozier and Mickey come to mind.  It may cost a game or two, but those two guys should have been ready to step in for Avery and Kelly/Sully when the real season began: The Playoffs.

I hope the time between games gives them enough time to heal.  It's "All hands on deck" time!!

gyso

Heck I think he went deeper during the season than most teams. Most of the time he played at least 10. And perhaps if anything playing 10 deep cost us games too. That said there appeared to be opportunity to play 11 and 12 a bit more but as far as injuries they happen. Did GS anticipate Curry getting hurt? Of course not no more then we thought Bradley would. The ripple effect for us is greater obviously they have more Dutch boys to plug the leaks than we do.

beat

I also hoped to see more of Rosier and especially Mickey but at the same time the Celtics went through a few lineup and rotational changes during the season as they were trying to find the right mix.

i do believe that the last 10-15 games they had a set rotation and perhaps could have played Mickey more. Rosier did get more time but I cannot help but wonder how good he would have been if he was playing from day 1.

dboss

I think Brad played with a 9-10 player rotation in the first half of the season and tightened it up to 7-8 players after the All-Star break. By then, Kelly was in and out of the rotation. Meanwhile, Mickey was tearing it up in the D-League. I think he should have gotten some time with the big club, especially since Sully did nothing but get fatter as the season went on.

As to how and when Brad would have gotten Rosier more time on the floor, well I just have to use my hind-sight glasses for that and simply state that he should have.

gyso

Bob, Well stated! Good Job!!!

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