Isaiah Thomas, Dennis Schroder Comment on Game 3 Incident

Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas denied intentionally hitting Dennis Schroder of the Atlanta Hawks in the head during Game 3 of their first-round playoff series Friday night.

Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN passed along postgame comments from Thomas, who racked up a career-high 42 points in Boston's 111-103 victory. He attributed the incident to "playoff basketball" and stated he wasn't concerned about the potential for NBA punishment.

"I'm not," Thomas said. "Because I didn't mean to hit his head. He got mad, he was talking. It's playoff basketball. That's what it's about. I'm not going to back down from anybody, and he knows that."

Schroder wasn't as nonchalant about the situation. He told Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he discussed the matter with official Zach Zarba.

"I'm not going to let nobody slap me in my face. I told him that," Schroder said. "If you want to play like that, we'll play like that. I was mad."

Fox Sports Southeast provided more of the guard's reaction:

Here's the moment in question, per Sportando:

As a whole, the playoffs are off to a chippy start in several series. Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News noted Friday that Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle was unhappy with some "non-basketball physical escalations" by the Oklahoma City Thunder in their series.

The league's decision when it comes to Thomas is crucial for Boston. Based on the video, it appears he takes a swipe at Schroder while trying to disguise it as a natural movement after pointing something out to a teammate, but he was staring Schroder down as he approached.

The Celtics guard has been terrific so far in the series, which Boston trails 2-1. He's averaged 28.3 points, 3.7 assists and 3.3 rebounds while playing nearly 35 minutes per game.

Game 4 between the Celtics and Hawks is scheduled for Sunday at 6 p.m. ET in Boston.