Recap: Isaiah Thomas is The Force as Celtics shoot down Suns

It was Star Wars Night in the US Airways Center in Phoenix, but The Force was with the Boston Celtics.

That force was 5’9” dynamo Isaiah Thomas, who made crucial plays down the stretch to key Boston’s 115-110 win over the Suns. The victory snapped a two-game losing streak and prevented an 0-3 western road trip.

Boston had led by as many as 20 points in the 3^rd quarter, and was still ahead 101-94 with 2:58 remaining. A minute later, following back-to-back 3-pointers by the Suns’ Eric Bledsoe, that lead was down to 1.

Time for Isaiah, who answered with a 3 while being fouled, and canned the free throw for an enormous 4-point play. Then the little lefty stole a pass, ran some clock in halfcourt, and finished with a spectacular, twisting, spin-off-the-glass righty lay-up. Ahead 107-100 with 40 seconds left, Thomas stared down his former team’s bench. Maybe it was a Jedi mind trick.

After PJ Tucker kept the Suns’ hopes alive with a putback and-1, Evan Turner was intentionally fouled, making 1, for a 5-point lead with 31 seconds left. After a Suns miss, Smart made 1 free throw, Bledsoe hit a layup, and Bradley made 2 from the line with 15 seconds left. Another Bledsoe drive and 2 Smart FTs kept the lead at 6, but Archie Goodwin’s 3 brought Phoenix to within 3 with 1.7 seconds left. Thomas was fouled and, appropriately, iced it, swishing 2 with the clock at 1.1 seconds.

All the pregame focus was on Thomas after last night’s impressive debut/ejection and his return to Phoenix after last week’s trade. But it was Avery Bradley on fire from the jump, shooting 5-5 with 2 treys and 14 points. Marcus Smart collected a Tommy Point by scrambling for a loose ball and, from the seat of his pants, finding Brandon Bass for a dunk. The Celts led 15-8 and forced a Suns timeout.

In the final minute of the quarter, the Celtics were hurt by giving Phoenix multiple offensive rebounds, but still led, 26-21, at the horn.

In the 2^nd quarter, the Celtics heated up with the 3-ball. Unlike the LA game, where they settled for deep shots too early and too often, this time they moved the rock to get open and balanced their game by attacking the basket. How hot were the Celts from deep? Jae Crowder made 3 treys in the half and Gerald Wallace hit a corner 3, his first in literally a year.

Although Thomas missed his first 3 shots, he offset that with 3 assists and then got off the schneid with an and-1 off a Brandon Knight turnover. James Young finished at the rim off a 3-on-2 break, putting the Celts ahead by 43-31. Thomas then hit 2 straight treys and set up Young for another. The lead rose to 60-43, mostly thanks to the second unit, which played so well that Bradley didn’t return until 3:50 remained.

A play that represented the half: AB picked Bledsoe’s dribble for a sneakaway, but Bledsoe recovered for the block. However, Brandon Bass hustled for the follow dunk and the Cs led 64-46. At the half it was 67-50, matching Boston’s highest point total for a half this season (opening night vs. Brooklyn).

Rarely is a game over at halftime, especially one involving the Green Team. In the 3^rd, the lead peaked at 75-55 until the Cs started to both turn the ball over and not get back on D. The Suns pushed the pace and moved within 77-64 with 7:21 in the quarter. Zeller missed a layup, then got stripped for a Suns breakaway dunk and suddenly it was down to 77-71. Some helter-skelter plays and Suns misses allowed the Cs to rebuild the margin to 81-71 with 4:40 remaining. Phoenix helped by missing 13 straight shots, including some good looks. A Turner trey in the final seconds closed the quarter with Boston ahead 89-79.

The Celts began the 4^th with both Wallace and Young on the floor. Early on, Boston committed 4 straight turnovers, but thanks to Bass attacking the rim still led by 9 at the first timeout. It didn’t last, as the ball movement disappeared and shots stopped falling. A 12-3 run brought the Suns to within 94-91 with 6:12 on the clock.

Crowder stopped the bleeding with a 3 off Smart’s penetration, but Knight answered with his own 3. With just over 3 minutes left, Bradley made a huge play on each end, stripping the ball, which led to a fast break and Avery hitting a pull-up 3-pointer. Boston led, 100-94, with 3:11 left. Then Turner got another steal that led to Thomas cashing 1 of 2 free throws. His best was yet to come.

The Green:

• Bradley led the scoring with 23 points on 8-13 shooting, while Thomas had 21 for the 2^nd straight game.
• Smart took 2 charges in the 4^th quarter.
• Boston made 14 of 29 treys (48.3%).
• Celtics shot 23-30 at the line, evidence that they were taking it to the basket. Suns were 13-16 on free throws, evidence that Tony Brothers was not in the building.
• The Suns’ only lead was at 2-0.

The Gross:

• One minute into the game, Turner threw away a pass that led to a Bledsoe sneakaway. Soon there was another ET TO leading to a Knight dunk. Tweeters were contemplating starting a Turner Turnover counter.
• Celts allowed 8 offensive rebounds in the 3^rd quarter.
• Tyler Zeller had a rough night, shooting only 5-13 and being blocked multiple times by Alex Len, who had 6 blocks and 12 boards.
• Gerald Green mysteriously had a DNP-CD.

The Greenlights:

Play of the Night (Suns’ announcers):
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_ImtZ6v7wg]

How did he make this?

https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js 

Love you, Marcus:

Bradley swipe & snipe:

Good heads-up play by BB:

https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js

Suns’ postgame reaction after Star Wars Night

Suns lose 115-110 on #StarWarsNight. #SunsVsCeltics pic.twitter.com/H93wZ7yujZ

— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) February 24, 2015

The Grid:

• Celtics shot 55% in the 1^st half and made 10-17 from the arc. Bass led with 15 points.
• For the game, Crowder 4-9 on 3s; Bradley career-high 6 steals.; Bass, 18 points on 7-11 shooting.
• From Sean Grande: Brandan Wright became the first player to play both for the Celtics, and against them with two different teams in the same season.
• Not sure if Isaiah Thomas was the first NBA player ever ejected in his debut with a team, but Paul Pierce was tossed from his first home game this season with the Washington Wizards. So Thomas is in good company.

Box Score