Isaiah Thomas vs. Heat: Stats, Highlights and Twitter Reaction
The Boston Celtics (20-14) were on the second night of a back-to-back following Thursday night's thrilling loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but you wouldn't have known it based on the performance Isaiah Thomas put forward.
In a 117-114 win over the Miami Heat at TD Garden, Thomas finished with a career-high 52 points, including a franchise-record 29 in the fourth quarter. The previous franchise record for points in a quarter belonged to Larry Bird and Todd Day—each of whom had dropped 24, per the Boston Globe's Gary Washburn.
All told, Thomas shot 15-of-26 from the field, including 9-of-13 on three-pointers, and a perfect 13-of-13 from the free-throw line. Thomas is now one of 24 players since 1983-84 to drop at least 50 points on 26 or fewer field-goal attempts.
Thomas joined elite company with his explosive scoring display, as ESPN Stats & Info highlighted:
Perhaps more impressive is that Thomas was able to hit the half-century mark despite his unassuming stature, according to The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor:
"It's remarkable," head coach Brad Stevens said, according to MassLive.com's Jay King. "I don't know what else to say. ... That was an unbelievably willful performance."
Thomas was sitting on 47 points with under a minute to go and the Celtics up by two, and he came up with the game's biggest bucket with 37.2 seconds remaining when he drilled a three from well beyond the arc on the left wing:
"On a couple of those shots I couldn't really see the hoop and they just went in," Thomas said, according to King.
With a clutch and unprecedented scoring outburst under his belt, Thomas figures to be a shoo-in for February's All-Star Game, according to The Vertical's Chris Mannix:
Ever since he returned from a four-game absence on Dec. 16 against the Charlotte Hornets, Thomas has dropped at least 20 points in nine straight games.
And if you want to know just how hot Thomas has been over the final weeks of 2016, consider this: He scorched the Memphis Grizzlies for a then-career-high 44 points on Dec. 20 and since topped 30 points twice before Friday's game.
With Thomas cooking and the Celtics hitting their stride following a relatively lackluster 10-8 start to the season, they should continue to evolve into one of the Cavaliers' foremost challengers in 2017.
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com.
