Isaiah Thomas conundrum: Celtics' Game 4 loss to Cavs shows they need their star
Boston is better on defense without Thomas, but it obviously missed him in the second half on Tuesday
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5 min read
A few months ago, I asked Kyle Lowry, Toronto Raptors All-Star and basketball junkie, whom he had been paying attention to around the league. Lowry said he watches everybody, but then singled one player out.
"I'm mesmerized with Isaiah Thomas right now," Lowry told me. "I'm mesmerized with his little ass. It's f---ing crazy."
Lowry spoke for much of the NBA. Thomas, the No. 60 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, had ascended to All-Star status the previous season, but the story got even more special this season. He averaged 28.9 points, trailing only MVP candidates Russell Westbrook and James Harden, and made a habit of dominating fourth quarters. Empowered by coach Brad Stevens, Thomas coupled his increased responsibility with more efficiency and fewer turnovers. Despite being atop every opposing team's scouting report, nobody could slow him down.
"It's his shiftiness," Lowry said. "It's his movement. It's his hesitation. It's his finishing at the rim. It's his foul-drawing. I just try to take something from everything. Right now I'm really watching him closely and taking little things from him."
Back on New Year's Eve, LeBron James said Thomas was the main reason for the Celtics' success, calling him a "unique talent" and a "clear-cut star." At All-Star weekend, Stephen Curry raved about Thomas' confidence and perseverance, saying he's "fun to watch except when you're trying to guard him."
This was the year that Isaiah -- with two A's -- became a household name. Once the playoffs started, Thomas' legend only grew. He never missed a game despite the tragic death of his sister just before the start of the first round. He took an elbow and lost one of his front teeth in the first game of the second round, finishing that particular contest with 33 points, nine assists and a win. After hours of oral surgery, he scored 53 points in a comeback victory, and when the Washington Wizards decided to swarm him after that, he adjusted by being more of a facilitator.
In the conference finals, Thomas' special season ended suddenly. He left Game 2 against the Cleveland Cavaliers with a hip injury after playing only 18 minutes, and the Celtics soon announced he was done for the playoffs. He had initially suffered the injury in mid-March, then aggravated it in Game 6 against the Wizards and, when the swelling increased at the worst time, the team decided to shut him down.
When that news hit, it seemed like Boston was toast. It had already been blown out twice by the Cavaliers, including a humiliating 130-86 defeat in the second game. The Celtics, however, responded with a buzzer-beating win in Game 3, and they led by 16 points in Game 4 before Cleveland fought back and took a 3-1 lead in the series on Tuesday.
Boston has at times looked better without Thomas. How can that be? What does it mean?
The obvious place to start is on the defensive end, where the 5-foot-9 Thomas often has to be hidden on less threatening players. Every team the Celtics have played in the postseason has tried to target him in pick-and-rolls and in the post. Boston is a small team in the frontcourt, but when Thomas is on the bench, it can make up for that with the size, speed and versatility of perimeter defenders Marcus Smart and Avery Bradley.
Without Thomas, the Celtics have switched less, scrambled less and done a better job of running shooters off the 3-point line. The Cavaliers represent an almost impossible challenge for most defenses, and Boston's extra physicality and athleticism have made a difference.
Thomas competes defensively, but with him on the bench, the Celtics had a 99.7 defensive rating in the regular season, which would have ranked first in the league if sustained for a full season. With him on the court, they had a 108.6 defensive rating, which was about the same as the New York Knicks' mark.
The conundrum, of course, is that Boston needs Thomas in order to be the best offensive team it can be.
In Game 3, they had so much ball movement and player movement that they overcame his absence. Credit Stevens, and credit Bradley, Smart and Jonas Jerebko for their shot-making -- Bradley had his chance to make the game-winner only because Smart and Jerebko combined to shoot 12 for 18, including 9 for 12 from beyond the arc. Unfortunately for the Celtics in Game 4, Smart shot 1 for 9, including 1 for 5 from deep.
Cleveland entered the conference finals with a specific game plan, and it was not shy about sharing it. Coach Tyronn Lue did not want Thomas to go off, especially in Boston, where the crowd can feed off his energy. The Cavaliers blitzed him the same way they blitzed Lowry and DeMar DeRozan in the second round, and Boston was not connected enough offensively to counteract that. Through six quarters without Thomas, the Celtics exploited the Cavs' sometimes-poor focus away from the ball, but Cleveland dialed up the pressure in the second half of Game 4 and Boston's offense fell apart.
"It's a difficult challenge because our preparation going into the series was going against a team with Isaiah," James said. "They're playing a lot differently now, so we're trying to figure out exactly what they're running and things of that nature, so it's been very difficult on us without I.T. on the floor. But now this is two games that we have. We've been able to see them, we're going to get a better understanding, so we should be a lot better in Game 5."
When Jae Crowder made a 3-pointer with 10:55 left, the Celtics trailed 90-86. They were undoubtedly in striking distance, but they needed some kind of offensive spark. Normally, this is where Thomas might try to take over, but instead Boston struggled to get anything going. The Cavaliers ended up with a 112-99 victory, thanks largely to their two best players generating offense. Irving had 21 of his 42 points in the third quarter, then James had 15 of his 34 in the fourth.
"They were unbelievable," Stevens said. "Irving was incredible at the end of the third and then obviously LeBron had all those baskets in the fourth. I thought that we played, you know, as well as we've played maybe the entire playoffs in the first half. We were really good defensively. Offensively, I thought we moved and cut and played together. And then for whatever reason, all those things became a little bit more difficult."
When things get difficult, you need stars. You need players who can get into the lane and make the other team send help. You need players who can create good looks against a set defense. This is particularly important in the playoffs, trying to score against teams that have scouted your offensive sets. Thomas is by far the Celtics' best option in big moments, and they missed him when they had an opportunity to tie the series. Cleveland, meanwhile, has the luxury of being able to turn to either James or Irving. As simple as it sounds, that is what doomed Boston down the stretch.
