A disappointed Isaiah Thomas is not ready to declare his team among the upper echelon of the NBA.
Despite dropping a team-high 31 points in Thursday night's 124-118 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Boston Celtics point guard had his apprehensions of how the team played.
The Celtics were somewhat disconnected as a unit, despite fueling a fourth-quarter rally that ultimately fell short of a win.
“We're not on that level yet,” Thomas told ESPN's Chris Forsberg. “We're not on Cleveland's level, so we got work to do. And we gotta figure it out.
“The real good teams, you make a mistake and they capitalize on it, whether it be the Cavs, the Warriors, the Spurs — those type of teams don't let you live when you make a mistake. We're not on that level yet.”
Boston is now 0-3 against the Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors, the two teams ahead of them in the Eastern Conference race. Yet, Boston is 14-3 against the rest of the conference and is tied with Charlotte Hornets for the third-best record in the East.
“[The Cavaliers] know what we can do, we know what we can do, we just gotta play better,” said Thomas, who has now scored 20 or more points in 17 straight games, the best streak in the NBA this season.
Thomas was an efficient 8-of-13 from the floor while netting all 13 of his free-throw attempts along with nine assists and two steals — the major problem has been at the defensive end for a team that expected defense to be its calling card coming into the season.
“There was a lot of miscommunication,” said forward Jae Crowder. “When you got miscommunication [against Cleveland], who knows how to win ballgames, they make you pay. And that's what happened. We dug ourselves in a hole with a lot of miscommunication and not knowing what we're going to do and not knowing when to rotate. That's on us as players. All the guys on the court gotta go on the same page.”
Follow Us
Subscribe