Isaiah Thomas left his mark in the 2017 playoffs under the Celtics, with clutch baskets and extraordinary performances, such as his 53-point game in Game 2 of the conference semi-final against Washington, second best individual performance in the history of the Celtics in the playoffs! A beautiful epic which unfortunately ended for him in Game 2 of the conference final against Cleveland, due to a persistent hip injury.
Affected since March, and while he worsened his injury, “IT” therefore clenched his teeth and gave everything, with the hope of a great reward in their sights: this famous big contract the following summer , in the Brink’s truck. In fact, he played until he couldn’t move.
More than just a bone contusion
In the “All The Smoke” podcast hosted by Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Isaiah Thomas returned to the very beginnings of his descent into hell, initially with a shock with Karl-Anthony Towns.
“I got injured in March, Karl-Anthony Towns fell on me. My hip has moved a bit, but at this point, my knee only hurts, as if I have a sprain. My hip? I didn’t feel anything. It was just a little uncomfortable but nothing crazy. We had an MRI, and there was nothing ”, he recalled.
Isaiah Thomas then spoke of his main regret about this sad story: the Celtics’ lack of frankness regarding the severity of his injury.
“When we arrive in the playoffs, the tragic news arrives (editor’s note: the death of his sister, Chyna, in a car accident), and my hip is starting to deteriorate. Everyone in Boston was angry with what they did to me (transferring it in stride), but it’s business, and I understand that. The only thing I could fault Boston with that they didn’t handle well was the fact that they didn’t explain to me what I was incurring if I kept playing. This is the main thing that I didn’t like. No one gave me directions. In the end, it was supposed to be a bone contusion. This is what they were saying. And if you tell me it’s just that, I play ten times out of ten! “, he added. “That’s the one thing I wish they had done differently and then I would have stepped back and asked this type of question: ‘In the worst case scenario, what can happen? “. It didn’t turn out that way and I continued to play. We advance and we find ourselves in the final of the conference, in Game 2 ”.
His trade in Cleveland, the coup de grace
While he was still able to be productive despite an injury increasingly complicated to manage, Isaiah Thomas still remembers when everything changed.
“Without disrespecting Deron Williams, who was late, and a little taller, I make a move, and he doesn’t move. I’m like, “Wow, I’m still fast! “. And I feel like a blow to my hip. That’s when I tell myself that maybe it’s over, because I couldn’t push on my leg anymore. Half-time is coming, and that’s when they told me to stop. It was over, I couldn’t move anymore ”.
The coup de grace does not take long to arrive as Boston trades Isaiah Thomas in Cleveland on August 22, 2017, for Kyrie Irving. Another moment that he lived badly since he believes that the Celtics did it voluntarily, knowing the severity of his injury.
“I am forfeited for the rest of the playoffs. We go to a surgeon to see if I need to have an operation. The best option was to let the weather go, to rest my body, to spend the summer and see how it had evolved. And after that, I get traded in Cleveland. This is what touched me the most. I played on the day of my sister’s funeral, it was my decision, and I decided to play until I took that shot. Of course, I was also thinking about my salary, I was going to become a “max player” and therefore I said to myself that I had to continue playing (…). Until the day I got that phone call, from nowhere, from Danny (Ainge) ”, he continued. “I think if I had been traded without being injured I would have taken it differently. I would have said to myself: « Cool, I’m going to play with LeBron, we have a chance to win the title ”. The fact that this happened while I was injured touched me. I am a human being at the end of the day. The fact that they knew how bad my hip was, and that they traded me for it, it hurts ”.
Isaiah Thomas has never regained his game since and has confirmed having gone through hell, physically and mentally, following the death of his sister. “For two to three years in a row, every day has been a struggle for me”.
Despite everything he got through it and even though he had a series of failures, with the Cavaliers, Lakers and Wizards, he had another chance to show himself this season with Team USA in February, shortly after having celebrated its 32 years. Two qualifying matches for the Americas Championships which resulted in a ten-day contract with the Pelicans. Already a small feat in view of what he has gone through these last four years.
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