Isaiah Thomas and strange second round of the NBA Playoffs

As I sit down to write, nine conference semifinals games have been played and of those nine, the narrowest margin of victory was ten points, the highest 27, and the average has been 17. We’ve had two-and-a-half competitive games. Yet somehow, in this series of beatdowns, varying degrees of historical greatness have flourished. Given the offensive supernova that was the 2016-17 NBA season, these latest performances from Isaiah Thomas, Kawhi Leonard, and LeBron James fit neatly into the box score booms to which we’ve become accustomed.

In what has become something of a coming-out season for Thomas, the proverbial cherry was placed on top of the sundae of his season on May 2 in Boston. In some ways, we shouldn’t be surprised, and yet, in a game of mighty men who see over the tops of trees and never shop for ladders, Thomas’s exploits continue to astound.

It’s not just that he became the fourth player in a playoff game since 1983-84 to score 53 points on 33-or-less shot attempts, but the jaw clenching, sphincter-tightening audaciousness with which he accomplished it. With a five-point deficit leading into the fourth quarter, Thomas set out on the type of onslaught that’s become semi-customary: 29 points on 16 shots over the fourth and OT. Over the same 17-minute period, the Wizards outscored Thomas 30-to-29 while Boston won in overtime by 10 thanks, in large part, to IT’s merciless attack.

And as I sat at home, transfixed by the marvel, I shouted out his rising point totals to my wife, Kate, who sat next to me holding our eight-week old son: “46 … 50 … 51”. She was preoccupied with the more pressing needs of our burping baby boy, but in her space as someone who is aware of the game of basketball, but couldn’t give a damn about the outcome of any game ever, she was still sucked into the performance of this relatively short man from Tacoma who darted in and out of traffic, navigating between star-spangle-bannered defenders and staring down opponents on his way to an absurd 53. I was in awe, and eventually took my son Will in my arms, beaming about these moments of wonder.

But the NBA didn’t stop wowing with Thomas and in cross-geographical games of anything you can do, I can do better, LeBron and Kawhi used blowouts to submit their own efforts in the never-ending attempt to improve volume and rate.

In an exhibition of ultra-efficiency, Bron scored 39 points on just 14 shots including a head scratching 6-7 (86 percent) on contested shots and 21 free throw attempts. Since 1983-84, only Terry Porter has had a playoff game as prolifically efficient. (As an aside, this Porter game against John Stockton was part of a hot stretch for Porter that saw him average nearly 30-points on nearly 60 percent shooting and 56 percent from three; a stretch that deserves its own appreciation.) But Bron, for all his bullying athleticism (he was 6-of-7 at the rim), has proven himself a man of the times in these playoffs as he’s making two-and-a-half 3s per game on 48 percent shooting.

This newfound commitment to 3-point accuracy makes James impossible to defend, particularly when he’s playing off the ball and shooting in rhythm as he was in the third quarter when he made basketball life a living hell for young Norman Powell: first he hit over the shorter Powell on a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer, then came off the dribble on a Tristan Thompson screen and made the open 3-pointer, and finally on another Thompson screen, caught an off-balance Serge Ibaka and drew the foul for three free throws. Nine points on two shots in less than a minute is the kind of madness make men offer bounties just to get snippets of relief. “Save me,” is what I hear DeMar saying. “I will pay you to save me.”

It only makes sense that NBA darling and rumored robot/cyborg, Kawhi Leonard destroyed Houston with some sort of unorthodox machine-like precision. Is he a terminator? Maybe a white walker? A science fiction nightmare cross-bred with the sick imagination of a fantasy novelist’s villain? Most likely, he’s a mere human, the same species as you and I, but capable of shooting 13-of-16 in a must-win playoff game becoming just the eighth player since 1983-84 to put up at least 34 points with that low a shot volume and high efficiency.

Where LeBron did his damage at the rim, the line and beyond the arc. And where IT is a dervish of lefty drives and whiplash pull-up 3-pointers, Kawhi’s masterpiece was built on craft and shot making ability. He’s not as fast or powerful as James so it’s more difficult for him to get all the way to the rim in half-court sets. As a result, Kawhi has mastered the near mid-range with an arsenal of pull-ups and floaters made more difficult to guard due to his patience in attack. That he’s shooting 50 percent from on 3-pointers in the playoffs and a near-perfect 72-74 (97 percent) from the line, only reduces the options available to defending him. The result? 34 points on 16 shots in a 27-point blowout.

Next: An impromptu memorial for the 2006-07 Cavaliers

Whether in the tight confines a competitive game or the boredom of a blowout, greatness is still great. Put Picasso in a bathroom and it’s still Picasso. The die has been cast, Draymond, Steph, Harden, and John Wall. The raw material of your masterpieces await their destiny. Show us. Show us now.