Isaiah Thomas is the heart and soul of the Boston Celtics. He’s also reportedly been leading them in their last two games, despite a broken jaw.
Last night’s game between the Boston Celtics and the Washington Wizards had a tremendous display of toughness. After Boston’s Kelly Olynyk set a hard screen on Kelly Oubre Jr., the smaller Kelly stood up to the longer-haired Kelly and shoved the bearded Kelly to the ground. Meanwhile, Isaiah Thomas was a few feet away with a broken jaw, just kind of playing basketball exceptionally well.
Isaiah Thomas has been playing playoff basketball against a team that:
- Wants to prove their point guard is better
- has been admonished to be tougher by someone playing through injury
- has at times has seemed slightly unhinged
And he’s reportedly been doing this with a fracture through one of the most important parts of his face.
Report: @Isaiah_Thomas playing w/ fractured jaw (via @GlennDOrdway) https://t.co/6yNUJ6wbnC
— NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSBoston) May 5, 2017
This is incredible. This is incredible for all sorts of reasons. Generally, people don’t play hurt all that often any more for the sake of longevity and proper treatment, so even knowing that someone is hobbled seems remarkable if they’re playing. Isaiah Thomas is the smallest guy on the court, the most physically vulnerable, and he has a crack through his skull.
It’s amazing he’s been able to play in the NBA given his stature. Past that, it’s amazing he’s been able to make it through the series given the personal tragedy he’s had to bear. And then on top of that, it’s amazing that he’s been able to make it out of bed free of a haze of morphine to live his life as a person with a fractured jaw.
His jaw is fractured. He scored 53 points on Tuesday. I’m just going to keep repeating the most basic facts next over and over again to myself until they make sense together.
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There have reasons to doubt Isaiah in the past, some fair, some not. That past is gone now. What we’re seeing Isaiah Thomas doing is a singular feat.
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