Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are the biggest names to recently win the Larry O'Brien trophy for the Boston Celtics. However, they could not have done any of this without the help of the veterans that Brad Stevens developed alongside them. The most prominent of which has been Al Horford but an often forgotten name is Isaiah Thomas.
Prior to finding their franchise stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, they had an MVP-caliber talent in Isaiah Thomas. If not for great names like LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden, the Brad Stevens-led Celtics would have had their first Most Valuable Player back in the 2017 season.
Nonetheless, the mighty guard with a small stature still put up big performances. The most notable of which was the Game 2 Eastern Conference Semifinals clash against the John Wall and Bradley Beal-led Washington Wizards. He outlined what was going through his head during that very game after learning of his sister's passing, via The Players' Tribune.
“It was one of the weirdest moments of my life on the basketball court. I didn't hear s***. I felt like I was in the gym by myself, just shooting back at the YMCA in Tacoma, Washington. Doing s*** I used to do when I was 13 or 14 years old. Have you ever seen the movie Sixth Man? It felt like that,” he added.
Isaiah Thomas' big inspiration for going ballistic against the Wizards
This game was a masterclass for both John Wall and Thomas. The Wizards legend ended up knocking down 50% of his 32 attempts on the field for 40 points. However, the Celtics guard got the best of him by going 18 of 33 on his shots from all three levels of scoring. He also missed only one of his 13 shots from the free throw line which added up to 53 points.
Thomas felt like this was such an out-of-body experience. The Celtics guard attributed all of this to his late sister.
“It felt like my sister was just there, just every shot going in. She was putting it in. Like, every move was going in, I'm blowing by guys. I'm not even doing good moves. They were just letting me go by. It just felt like she was there helping me. Like, that was inspiring for me. I can't even describe those moments,” he noted.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown may be the biggest stars for the Celtics now but it was Isaiah Thomas who kept them afloat in the years leading up to title contention.