When Isaiah Thomas scored a career-high 52 points on Friday against the Miami Heat, Gerald Green could not help but be reminded of Paul Pierce‘s 50-point game back in 2006.
Green was a 20-year-old rookie at that time and saw first hand the last time a Celtics player scored at least 50 before Thomas replicated it on Friday night. Despite happening a decade ago, he clearly remembers the game when The Truth went up toe-to-toe against a young LeBron James in an epic matchup.
“[Pierce] and LeBron were really going at it,” Green said. “I think LeBron had like [43 points] himself. It was one of those games where you’d seen two great players going head-to-head. And Pierce took the challenge, LeBron took the challenge, they were both guarding each other. It was an unbelievable game, between two competitive guys.”
However, when asked who he thinks did it better, he quickly said it was the 5-foot-9 point guard as it was his first time to see someone score 27 points in a quarter alone and was impressed with how his teammate willed their team to victory.
“But what I.T. did the other night. He literally put us on his back and carried us in that fourth quarter, man. We needed him.”
“I’ve just never seen nobody score that many points in one quarter before. That was just unbelievable to me.”
Green also discussed the improvements he's seen from Thomas since their days with the Phoenix Suns and only had good words for him.
“It was just awesome. To see him, this is the second team that I’ve been on with him and we’ve been friends for a few years now, but just to see him grow from when we first met until now — it’s unbelievable.
“I’ve always been a fan, man. But now I’m really a fan. My son goes around shooting the basketball saying, ‘Isaiah Thomas!' So it’s cool, it’s cool.”
Behind Thomas' career game, the Celtics were able to win their last game of 2016 and improved their record to 20-14 for the season. Should the 27-year-old Washington product continue his stellar play, it won't be surprising if he leads the Bean Town team to one of top seeds in the Eastern Conference and have a deep playoff run this year.
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