Celtics at Wizards
Isaiah Thomas is persevering through personal tragedy and putting the Boston Celtics on his back in dedication to his late sister. Thomas will try to summon the energy once again, this time on the road, when the Celtics visit the Washington Wizards for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Thursday.
Thomas' sister, Chyna, died on the eve of the playoffs and her 23rd birthday would have been on Tuesday, when Thomas scored 29 of his 53 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to lead Boston to a 129-119 win and a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. "My sister wouldn't want me to stop," Thomas said during a TV interview after the win. "The only thing about it is, once I leave this gym, I hit reality and she's not here. So that's the tough part. But, when I'm in this arena, I can lock in and I know everything I do is for her." John Wall collected 40 points and 13 assists for the Wizards in Game 2, but it wasn't quite enough to match Thomas. "It was a heck of a basketball game," Washington coach Scott Brooks told reporters. "Two teams played their hearts out. Two great players played well. I thought both teams competed, played their hearts out, nothing to be ashamed of. We lost both games. Now we got to go home and take care of Game 3."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN
ABOUT THE CELTICS: Thomas added physical pain to his emotional toll after having a tooth knocked out in Game 1 and sitting through a second round of dental surgery prior to Game 2. "What else is there to say?" Boston coach Brad Stevens asked reporters. "There's a point (Tuesday) when he was not feeling good at all and was having a tough day. And I thought he was going to really have to gut this one out. And he not only guts it out, he ends up with 50. Pretty impressive." Thomas is getting plenty of help from center Al Horford, who is 16-of-22 from the floor in the series and logged a double-double in each of the first two contests.
ABOUT THE WIZARDS: Thomas did a lot of his damage in the paint, where Washington Center Marcin Gortat and hobbled power forward Markieff Morris struggled to defend. Morris suffered a sprained ankle in Game 1 but came out for Game 2 and scored 14 points before fouling out in just 27 minutes. "He brings a lot to our team with toughness," Brooks told reporters of Morris. "He's a very physical, tough player. He competes. He’s done everything for us throughout this season, been great to coach. He had a great game. He really competed. Unfortunately, our two bigs got in foul trouble. But I thought he did a great job of competing and put us in the position to win the game."
WALK-OFFS
1. Wizards SG Bradley Beal went 1-of-9 from 3-point range in Game 2 after hitting 4-of-7 in Game 1.
2. Celtics SG Avery Bradley is just 13-of-36 from the field in the series but totaled seven steals in the first two games.
3. Boston reserve PG Terry Rozier owns a plus/minus rating of plus-38 in 40 minutes of playing time through the first two games of the series.