Recap: Thomas’ 14 in the fourth seal deal in Big Easy

Isaiah Thomas kicked into God mode in the fourth quarter (again) to help the C’s snuff out any hopes of a Pelicans win tonight. Thomas dropped 27 on New Orleans, 14 of them in the decisive 4th quarter to lead Boston to a 104-98 win on Friday night. Thomas’ 4th quarter began with three treys in a row and it was clear he was on a mission to put things out of reach.

With 44 seconds left in the game, an Evan Turner turnover (say that three times fast) led to two Anthony Davis free-throws. Davis made one of two and it was 97-90 Boston. Turner then made up for his gaffe with a layup/three-point play that put things out of reach at 100-90 with 23 seconds left. Despite having 4 turnovers, ET finished with a respectable 16 pts, 6 asts & 6 rebs.

Boston was uber aggressive tonight on the offensive end, getting to the free-throw line at will. A very unBoston like 25 attempts at the charity stripe this evening. That’s one of the major changes I’ve loved since IT has come to town-we are actually getting to the line during games. Thomas took 8 tonight and connected on 7 of them.

I’m not going to pretend I saw much of this game, because due to work I did not. But the Celtics are now 1.5 games back of the last playoff spot in the East for those of you on #TeamEighthSeed.

The Celts now travel to Orlando where they face the Magic on Sunday night at 7pm EST.

The Green:

• As mentioned above, Isaiah Thomas led Boston with 27 and had 14 of them in the final quarter. Love, love, LOVE what this kid has brought to the table
• Brandon Bass played some great defense on Anthony Davis tonight, as well as putting in 17 points & grabbing 6 boards
• Jae Crowder started for the injured AB and had a solid line of 11 points, 9 rebounds & 4 steals in 37 minutes
• Boston grabbed 20 points off of 18 NO turnovers

The Gross:

• Rough shooting night for KO as he continues to try & bounce back from that ankle injury. Olynyk was 1 of 9 from the field. In his defense, he did stay aggressive, getting to the FT line  where he went 6 of 8. But it’s clear he is far from “back”.

The Greenlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gppIwKDxp2o

The Grid: (quick stats)

• Boston was a perfect 12 of 12 from the FT line in the fourth
• Rebounds: NO 45 BOS 37

Box score