Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
It’s not clear yet whether Thomas will play Wednesday night against the Orlando Magic, but the Celtics might be preparing for a possible absence. Prior to practice Tuesday they recalled Demetrius Jackson from the D-League, where the rookie has spent most of the last month. Jackson would provide point guard depth in case Thomas needs to miss any time.
MassLive – Isaiah Thomas injury: Boston Celtics guard misses practice with pulled groin
If this was a clickbait website, the above headline would’ve been something like, “I.T.’s groin needs attention.” But Isaiah’s health is nothing to joke about.
The Celtics have already experienced stretches without Al Horford, Jae Crowder, Marcus Smart and Kelly Olynyk. All those absences were costly, but manageable. However, if Isaiah has to sit, even for just a game or two, that’s a major problem.
It’s easy to see why. Not only does Thomas lead the team in scoring with 26 points per game (ninth in the league), and assists with 6.2 per game, he’s also literally the only Celtic who gets to the free throw line more than a couple of times per night. IT is the catalyst to the offense, with a usage rate of 32.9% that leads the team by far. Finally, he delivers a league-best 9.3 points per game off drives to the hoop, which would be impressive even if he wasn’t The Little Guy. All this even though he takes hard falls every night and has been dealing with a sore finger on his shooting hand.
Sure, Demetrius Jackson could fill in if Isaiah needs to sit out tonight. But all Jackson would be doing is taking the minutes, not replacing the production. Of course, if resting a bit helps IT’s long-term health, we’ll have to live with that. Because if he’s absent for any extended time, it’s obvious the Cs will be screwed.
On Page 2: Al Horford is not soft
Horford had headaches and nausea, and he was bothered by light, noise, and motion. For Horford, the experience was especially concerning because he had no point of reference. He said he took a similar shot to the head in high school and had concussionlike symptoms, but was fine the next day. The same thing happened about four years ago, when he played for the Atlanta Hawks. This time, he seemed to be regressing.
“As the days kept going by, I started to feel worse,” he said. “Just a lot of things that wouldn’t go away. It was a lot of stuff I didn’t really understand, because it’s never happened to me before.”
After about two weeks, Horford began to work out with the team’s training staff. He hoped to at least support his teammates from the bench.
“Then I noticed that just being in the arena, these lights, would kill me,” he said. “They would bring my symptoms back. I felt like I was close to fainting. The noise and the lights would bring everything back to square one.” […]
“Concussions, you have to be really honest with yourself, and sometimes that’s hard to do,” he said. “As athletes, we’re always trained to play through stuff. And I’ve played through all types of injuries — ankle sprains, shoulder, whatever — and with the brain it’s just different. That was the hard part for me to understand.”
Globe – Concussion was an ordeal for Al Horford
The longer Horford was out, the louder the criticism became about why it took him so long to recover. Well, it’s easy to talk when you aren’t the one dealing with a problem. It’s clear from this interview that Horford was impatient to come back to the team, but was simply not capable of it.
On Page 3: Not going as planned
…we all need to hit the pause button when talking about them as a team inching closer towards Eastern Conference supremacy.
After the first month of the season, they have yet to show that they are going to be better than last season’s 48-win ball club.
The big problem a year ago was the offense bogging down and for the most part, not making shots. This year, it’s the team’s defense that has let them down on many nights.
And with that comes a sobering reminder this crew is good, but at best are maybe top-five in the East.
CSNNE – Blakely: Celtics Not As Feared As They Were Last Season
As discussed in Monday’s Morning Dump, it’s a not at all clear yet if this team is going to meet expectations. At this point, the facts in the above article really can’t be refuted. And yesterday, Brad Stevens dropped a nugget of info that summed up the Celtics’ current status.
Stevens on late-game grinds: "We've played 21 games – 16 of them have been 3 possessions or less. That's us."
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 6, 2016
We’d better get used to close finishes, and they’d better figure out how to win them.
Related: Herald – Celtics Notebook: Brad Stevens’ crew knows it must execute and communicate better on offense to win close games
On Page 4: Happy birthday, Larry!
Happy Birthday, Larry Bird (60) NBA Vault: Larry Bird's FIRST training camp with the @Celtics (1979) pic.twitter.com/dtjgQUnU3Y
— NBA History (@NBAHistory) December 7, 2016
Note: How about that luxurious training facility? Also, NBATV’s schedule today includes the 1987 Celtics-Pistons playoff game (“there’s a steal by Bird…”) at 11 a.m. Eastern time, and “Larry Bird’s 50 Greatest Moments” at 1 p.m.
And, finally: Plays of the Week
Check out this week's Top 5 Plays presented by .@JetBlue https://t.co/qz6nrYM2dA
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 7, 2016
The Rest of the Links:
MassLive – Kevin Garnett once pitched Showtime Sports on a reality show that would have followed him to college
CBS Boston – Horford’s Miss Another Missed Opportunity For Celtics
CSNNE – First Quarter All-Stars: Looking At The NBA’s Best
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