IT is hurt and may be out game 3?

[KGs Knee]

IT being hurt obviously explains his really bad performances.

It's a bummer, but it also doesn't matter.  Lebron simply outclasses everyone on the C's by a lot.

Boston has it's "Kyrie and Love" in IT and Horford, but we have no "LeBron".  Nothing else matters.

[jpotter33]

I don't think he's a coward, quitter, or anything like that. He showed incredible heart this playoffs after everything that went down. Granted, I only watched the play-by-play last night and not the game itself.

However, I do think this playoffs has cemented his status as a non-max player, or at least it should have for us with Fultz incoming. His size just makes him too easy to ganeplan for, and his defense is really just atrocious, eveb beyond his lack of size.

I still hold that IT is best suited as a 6th Man of the Year type scoring spark plug off of the bench, and I think it's pretty clear he can't be the best player on a contending team. Being a starter and our best overall option offensively, he's just too easy to gameplan for and take advantage of defensively.

[cousytoheinsohn]

IT being hurt obviously explains his really bad performances.

It's a bummer, but it also doesn't matter.  Lebron simply outclasses everyone on the C's by a lot.

Boston has it's "Kyrie and Love" in IT and Horford, but we have no "LeBron".  Nothing else matters.

Yes, exactly. Very well-put.

[footey]

It's disappointing how obvious it is that IT has simply checked out.

IT is injured and has been since game 6 against The Wiz.

Everybody is banged up at this point.

That is utter CRAP PhoSita!!!!  IT went from jumping OVER 7 footers on lay-in layups to barely being able to get 5 inches off the ground.  He IS hurt and hurt badly.  I has been holding that ice pack on his hip for weeks now, and he unfortunately serious aggravated the already existing injury.

Smitty77

Im sorry, I just dont buy it.

He just so happens to succumb to this injury after they get utterly blown away for the second game in a row?

Coward.

Have you not been watching the playoffs. In the Wash series he started to slow down. He's be fine in spurts, but his lift and quickness was gone. Stevens said he took an other bad fall that really aggravated it in game 6, played threw game 7, but it got worse tues and Wed. Stevens said the training staff pulled him and he wasn't happy about it. BS doesn't BS.

It's why he hasn't driven to the hoop, he has no quickness or lift. I've bruised my hip and it was hard to move, he must have something really going on if the training staff pulled him.

They are looking at it today. If there is some issues with it that could be worsen if he plays, He should sit We aren't beating the Cavs, no point on hurting his health long term for it. And if he can't move, play some kind of defense, he's more of a liability on the floor than off.

The guy played threw his sisters death and traveling during the Bulls series and they went down 0-2, did he give up then? No. Some times you can't will your body threw an injury.

And I don't want to get blocked replying to that "coward" comment how I'd want to, but that was uncalled for.

Exactly. His decline did not start game 6 of Washington series, it started a lot sooner, maybe during that 53 point game.  It was obvious to those of us who have watched all his games this year, just how consistently aggressive IT has been, until that point in time.  Just obvious.

Danny and Brad certainly know the truth about his injury.  How did we become a 53 win team? Largely following his lead.  The team that has played the Cavs these first two games (and, frankly, the one that managed to close out the Wiz) is not that 53 game winning team.  Are the Cavs a better team? Of course. They are playing out of their minds right now.  They would have beaten GS last night no question.  Are they that much better than us if we were full strength?  Of course not.  It would have been a 5-6 game series.  The point is, the margin between us is not as significant as what we are witnessing right now. In large part because IT has been hampered.

Look at the decline in SAS following the loss of Leonard.  Is he any more important to the Spurs than IT is to us? 

[RockinRyA]

This is absolutely disgusting, and yes I am gonna name names. jbpats and PhoSita, you are among the worst possible fans in the whole world. After everything IT had to go through not just this playoffs but his whole career, you label him "quitter or soft?! You have ignored opposing evidence in order to continuously malign Celtics players and management.

You better get your head checked out if you think losing by 40 in the conference finals is harder to bear than the death of your sister. Seriously.

[PhoSita]

That's not at all what I said.

He overcame a lot to get to the Conference Finals.

It's really disappointing that he seems to have checked out once the team got there.

Everybody is banged up at this point so I don't see that as a valid excuse.

If you're the leader you bear the responsibility when the team no-shows.

It's not just Thomas who has drawn my ire in this regard, but if he sits out game 3 after checking out of game 2, he will fall in my estimation. Quite considerably. It's just not what I want to see from the guy who sets the tone for my franchise.

[PAOBoston]

That's not at all what I said.

He overcame a lot to get to the Conference Finals.

It's really disappointing that he seems to have checked out once the team got there.

Everybody is banged up at this point so I don't see that as a valid excuse.

If you're the leader you bear the responsibility when the team no-shows.

It's not just Thomas who has drawn my ire in this regard, but if he sits out game 3 after checking out of game 2, he will fall in my estimation. Quite considerably. It's just not what I want to see from the guy who sets the tone for my franchise.

Ever consider that he might actually be really hurt? He doesn't strike me as the type of player to fake an injury or quit. Just based of his story/persona, I just have a hard time buying that.

There's something to be said for playing through an injury. But there comes a point where you have to evaluate if you're doing more harm than good on the court for your team.

[Phantom255x]

That's not at all what I said.

He overcame a lot to get to the Conference Finals.

It's really disappointing that he seems to have checked out once the team got there.

Everybody is banged up at this point so I don't see that as a valid excuse.

If you're the leader you bear the responsibility when the team no-shows.

It's not just Thomas who has drawn my ire in this regard, but if he sits out game 3 after checking out of game 2, he will fall in my estimation. Quite considerably. It's just not what I want to see from the guy who sets the tone for my franchise.

I'm sorry but that's just ridiculous.

So you want an injured Isaiah Thomas to go out there, and potentially risk even more injury? Just so he "becomes a leader" in your eyes?

Boy, I guess that means Kawhi Leonard is no leader either. Out for Game 3.

And if IT goes out there injured and doesn't play well in Game 3 because of it, will you call him out for that too?

[Ogaju]

That's not at all what I said.

He overcame a lot to get to the Conference Finals.

It's really disappointing that he seems to have checked out once the team got there.

Everybody is banged up at this point so I don't see that as a valid excuse.

If you're the leader you bear the responsibility when the team no-shows.

It's not just Thomas who has drawn my ire in this regard, but if he sits out game 3 after checking out of game 2, he will fall in my estimation. Quite considerably. It's just not what I want to see from the guy who sets the tone for my franchise.

I'm sorry but that's just ridiculous.

So you want an injured Isaiah Thomas to go out there, and potentially risk even more injury? Just so he "becomes a leader" in your eyes?

Boy, I guess that means Kawhi Leonard is no leader either. Out for Game 3.

And if IT goes out there injured and doesn't play well in Game 3 because of it, will you call him out for that too?

Exactly, that is just plain silly to call out an injured player.

[PhoSita]

If he goes out there and plays hard but struggles, that's fine.

It's the apparent giving up that I can't stomach.


Kawhi Leonard has a legitimate injury that was quite serious. This hip thing sounds like an excuse to me.

If they do an MRI and he's got a torn bursa or something, then that's a different story.

[hwangjini_1]

It's disappointing how obvious it is that IT has simply checked out.

IT is injured and has been since game 6 against The Wiz.

Everybody is banged up at this point.

Pho, I await the proof of your assertion. Until then, it appears to be little more than conjecture that flows from pre-existing preferences. You really are much better than this.

[OldSchoolDude]

We had to move IT to sg and let Turner run the point last year because IT couldn't handle the trap when Atlanta pressured him.   He wasn't hurt then.  He couldn't do anything against the Cavs the year before.  So he got injured in game 6 vs Washington, but absent his big 53 point game he looked like the same guy who despite his big heart is just too short to be able to compete effectively and consistently at a playoff level.   I think he had a 50 point game last year but then the trap came and he was done, just like this year.  His injury doesn't change the fact that in 10 of the 11 playoff games before he was injured IT looked like a fake all star. 

[Big333223]

If he goes out there and plays hard but struggles, that's fine.

It's the apparent giving up that I can't stomach.


Kawhi Leonard has a legitimate injury that was quite serious. This hip thing sounds like an excuse to me.

If they do an MRI and he's got a torn bursa or something, then that's a different story.

I'm confused as to why you think the team and IT are lying about the injury. I can understand a possible motivation for it but I don't see why you are convinced that it's true. Is there some kind of evidence for it that I haven't heard?

[Roy H.]

We had to move IT to sg and let Turner run the point last year because IT couldn't handle the trap when Atlanta pressured him.   He wasn't hurt then.  He couldn't do anything against the Cavs the year before.  So he got injured in game 6 vs Washington, but absent his big 53 point game he looked like the same guy who despite his big heart is just too short to be able to compete effectively and consistently at a playoff level.   I think he had a 50 point game last year but then the trap came and he was done, just like this year.  His injury doesn't change the fact that in 10 of the 11 playoff games before he was injured IT looked like a fake all star.

Like his 33/12 in Game 7, despite going to the hospital for his hip after Game 6?

Check his game log; you're making stuff up.

[Big333223]

We had to move IT to sg and let Turner run the point last year because IT couldn't handle the trap when Atlanta pressured him.   He wasn't hurt then.  He couldn't do anything against the Cavs the year before.  So he got injured in game 6 vs Washington, but absent his big 53 point game he looked like the same guy who despite his big heart is just too short to be able to compete effectively and consistently at a playoff level.   I think he had a 50 point game last year but then the trap came and he was done, just like this year.  His injury doesn't change the fact that in 10 of the 11 playoff games before he was injured IT looked like a fake all star.

Like his 33/12 in Game 7, despite going to the hospital for his hip after Game 6?

Check his game log; you're making stuff up.

This.

Over the 13 games of the first 2 rounds, IT avergaed 25.4 points and 6.5 assists with 44/34/83% shooting percentages, which are expected to drop in the playoffs. Calling IT a fake all star in these playoffs is indeed making stuff up.