Boston Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas has been ruled out for the remainder of the postseason. What does this mean for the Cleveland Cavaliers?
It’s been bad news all around for Boston Celtics who just announced that point guard Isaiah Thomas has been ruled out for the remainder of the postseason after re-aggravating a hip injury in Game 2 of the Celtics’ Eastern Conference Finals series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Per an official press release from the Boston Celtics team website:
"The Boston Celtics today announced that Isaiah Thomas will miss the remainder of this year’s postseason following re-aggravation of a right femoral-acetabular impingement with labral tear during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals against Cleveland. Thomas initially injured the hip during the third quarter of the Celtics’ March 15 game against Minnesota, forcing him to miss the next two regular season contests. The injury was further aggravated during Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at Washington on May 12."
Thomas was averaging a paltry 9.5 points per game against the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals on 28.0 percent shooting from the field and 22.2 percent from three-point range. Despite averaging 28.9 points per game in the regular season and, in his best round of the playoffs thus far, 27.4 points per game against the Washington Wizards in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Thomas has struggled with the Cavs aggressive defense and overall length.
Quite frankly, though Thomas is one of the more confident athletes in the NBA, at times he was playing timidly on the court throughout the series, even when being guarded straight-up by Kyrie Irving.
Take this as anecdotal evidence of Thomas’ passivity:
In 57 minutes of playing time, Jae Crowder has had 22 shot attempts. In 56 minutes of playing time, Thomas has had 25 shot attempts.
Crowder averaged 13.9 points per game in the regular season, less than half of Thomas’ regular season average. He averaged 12.0 points per game in the first round of the playoffs and 14.3 points per game against the Wizards.
He’s been averaging 15.0 points per game against the Cavs.
Without Thomas, who didn’t play in the second half of Game 2’s rout as he dealt with the re-aggravated hip injury, the Celtics started Amir Johnson in his place.
This not only would help Al Horford protect the paint against LeBron James, who relentlessly attacked the rim but would also help the Celtics with rebounding as they would essentially struggle to create good shots without Thomas on the floor, meaning there would be a lot of opportunities for rebounds.
Despite Thomas’ subpar scoring effort, he was averaging 8.0 assists per game in the series, creating good looks for his teammates by making timely passes out of double-teams and after dribble-drives into the lane.
Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens attempted to go small to combat the Cleveland Cavaliers high-octane offense but, like it did for Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey, the plan backfired tremendously. The Celtics were too small to stop James to the rim or really effect Irving’s shots around the rim. The Cavs were looking to exploit matchups that left guards on Kevin Love as well.
Part of the reason that the Cavs played even better in Game 2 than they did in Game 1 is because the Celtics downsized and played right into the Cavs hands. The Cavs want to be able to attack the rim with smaller defenders there to protect it. They want teams who don’t have the level of three-point shooting they do to try to stick with them by taking the three-ball and missing as their frustration with losing came to a head.
They want to be able to post-up against small guys with James and Love.
If Stevens didn’t notice that, and he probably has, expect the Cavs to play a small lineup where Gerald Green and Jae Crowder are the forwards while Avery Bradley and, likely, Marcus Smart are the guards.
The alternative would be to go back to the lineup they used to start the second half and risk Johnson being singled-out in the pick-and-roll as James or Irving attempt to get a step on him from the perimeter. If Kelly Olynyk, who is a versatile offensive player was to start in Johnson’s place, the Celtics would fare better on offense but still be at a physical disadvantage on the other end.
However, Stevens could opt to try one more combination. He could start Jaylen Brown and put him on the wing with Green while Bradley plays point guard. That’s a fast lineup with good defense and two players who are threats to score in isolation in Brown and Bradley.
Brown isn’t likely to get to the type of scoring averages that Thomas put up but he gives them their best chance for success.
Frankly, no matter what the Celtics do it’s hard to imagine them being a better team than they were in Games 1 and 2 without their best player.
This series was over after Game 2. The news today was just the nail in the coffin.
Warriors, come out and playyyyy.
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What do you think the Boston Celtics will try to do to replace Isaiah Thomas? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.
*All stats courtesy of www.basketball-reference.com