BOSTON – The Celtics lost Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, 130-86, but they may have lost something more significant as the series shifts to Cleveland.
Boston point guard Isaiah Thomas missed the second half of Game 2 with what was announced as a right hip strain. Thomas, who was just named second-team All-NBA, had played 17 minutes in the first half, and was 0-for-6 from the floor.
After Game 2, Celtics coach Brad Stevens said Thomas’s availability for Game 3 on Sunday (8:30 pm EST, TNT) is unclear.
“I think he’s going to be reevaluated tomorrow, “ said Stevens, “and ‘we’ll see’ is what I was told. I don’t know anything further to that. I don’t know if somebody out of our PR group will communicate that tomorrow or early Sunday, whatever the determination is.”
According to Stevens, Thomas has been battling the injury for a while.
“He’s had a nagging hip injury,” said Stevens. “He aggravated it pretty significantly on Friday in Washington Game 6, went through a bunch of different testing on Saturday and Sunday, was able to play Monday, hasn’t felt great either of the two days. But today I thought he looked much different in the first half. When we went back to the locker room, our training staff and doctors got with him. He was pretty despondent not to be able to play. I mean, that guy is a tough guy, and he plays through a lot. For him to have to sit is really hard.”
In 76 games this season, Thomas averaged 28.9 points per game, third-best in the NBA. In Boston’s 15 postseason games, Thomas has averaged 23.3 points per game.
Lang Whitaker has covered the NBA since 1998. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here or follow him on Twitter.
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