WGL Sports Performer of the Day (1/30/17)
Boston Celtics Point Guard Isaiah Thomas (41 points, 8 assists)
The NBA’s #2 scorer was at it again last night. Entering play, Isaiah Thomas (29.1 PPG) was riding a streak of 31 consecutive games with 20 or more points. That streak was extended to 32 games on Monday. In fact, Thomas’s 4th quarter performance alone would have been enough to do the job. In the final period, he dropped 24 points and shot 6 for 9 from the field. For the game, Thomas finished with 41 points and dished out 8 assists. He shot 11 for 23 overall and went 15 for 15 from the free throw line. Thomas was instrumental in leading the Celtics to their fourth straight win, a 113-109 triumph over the Pistons.
The diminutive point guard out of Washington continues to make waves in the NBA, and the rest of the league is taking notice. Thomas was recently named to his second consecutive All-Star team, though he was left out of the starting lineup. It appears that snub is only adding more fuel to the fire. Thomas has been playing as well as any player in the league, especially in the 4th quarter, where he is more dangerous than anyone on the planet right now. For the season, Thomas has accumulated 20 or more points in the 4th quarter on four different occasions. The rest of the NBA combined has done so just seven times. Thanks in part to a recent slide by the Cavaliers, the Celtics find themselves just 2.5 games out of the top spot in the Eastern Conference. If Thomas can continue to play like this, then maybe, just maybe, an MVP award and a deep run into the summer aren’t completely out of the question.
