ATLANTA – Isaiah Thomas dropped a goose egg during the first half of Game 5 against the Atlanta Hawks, and it didn’t get much better over the final two quarters.
Thomas finished the night with a season-low seven points before exiting the game during the fourth quarter with a mild left ankle sprain, and his Celtics fell 110-83 to Atlanta.
Tuesday’s result was more confirmation of a season-long trend for Boston: that it is only average when its leading scorer has a subpar scoring night. The Celtics are now 13-13 on the season when Thomas fails to score at least 20 points, with four of those defeats coming at the hands of Atlanta.
The Hawks may not have known that exact stat, but they got the idea.
“If we’re able to contain him, it gives us a better chance,” Al Horford said after the game.
Horford also elaborated on Atlanta’s game plan against Thomas heading into the matchup.
“We just wanted to be aggressive,” he said. “He’s a guy that’s very capable. We trapped some, but it wasn’t all the time.”
Thomas would beg to differ on that last comment. After being notified that one of the Hawks had downplayed their emphasis on trapping Thomas during the game, Boston’s All-Star point guard wholeheartedly disagreed.
“He’s lying if he’s playing it down,” Thomas said. “Obviously their job today was to make others beat us; take the ball our of my hands, and when I came off pick-and-rolls they kept two guys on me until I passed it.”
Thomas said Atlanta used such a defense against him occasionally during Game 3, and rarely used it at all during Game 4. It was a constant, however, during Game 5, which was a strategy Thomas hadn’t faced in a long, long time.
“Back in high school,” he said of the last time a defense paid that much attention to him throughout the course of an entire game. “They used to do box-in-ones and stuff. Not in the NBA.”
The element of surprise came in handy for Atlanta. Thomas finished the game with only three made field goals, which tied a season low. He also attempted only 12 shots while committing three turnovers.
Thomas, however, wasn’t willing to admit defeat.
The point guard and his coach both stated after the game that Thomas was simply taking what the defense was giving him, which was more often than not the pass.
“I thought Isaiah did a really good job of just getting rid of the ball,” said Stevens. “That’s what you have to do when being trapped – making the right basketball play.”
Thomas received such a message from Stevens throughout the night.
“Coach kept saying it at halftime and saying it throughout the game: I’m making the right pass,” Thomas said, referring to his continual effort to kick the ball to open teammates. “They’re making other guys make the play, and most of the season I’ve been the guy to make the play. So it’s probably tough for some guys in that position.”
One would have to assume that Atlanta will come back with the exact same game plan Thursday night in Boston for Game 6. The Hawks will likely trap Thomas with a fury with the goal of making other Celtics beat them.
For his part, however, Thomas plans on putting his stamp on a victory as well.
“Myself, I’ve got to figure out ways to beat it, and I will,” he said defiantly. “I’ll be ready for Game 6.”
He’d better be, because history says that the Celtics won’t have a great shot at extending this series if their leading scorer doesn’t put the ball through the basket.