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IT Remains Among Legends as Scoring Streak Ends

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BOSTON – After compiling 43 consecutive 20-point efforts over the last three-plus months, Isaiah Thomas’ franchise-record scoring streak finally came to an end Monday night against the Atlanta Hawks.

Thomas fell just one point shy of the 20-point plateau, as the Celtics fell to the Hawks, 114-98.

It was inevitable that Thomas would eventually break the streak, but let’s just take a moment to appreciate the implausibility of what he just accomplished.

Think of all the great scorers in Celtics history who have not been able to achieve what Thomas has done over the last few months. In fact, most have not even come close.

John Havlicek owned the record before Thomas with 40 straight games of scoring 20-plus points. The next-closest achiever after that was Kevin McHale, who logged 30 consecutive such efforts.

Now, take Thomas’ size into consideration.

The man is 5-foot-9. He is the shortest player in a league made up of giants. Yet no team has had an answer for him this season.

Thomas’ 3-point shot has been on the money all season long. He also drives to the rim at will, baffling the opposition with his combination of speed, hesitation moves and unfathomable, flashy finishes.

Lastly, bear in mind how much attention Thomas garners from opposing defenses on a nightly basis. He is double-teamed – sometimes triple-teamed – on nearly every offensive possession.

Defenses have tried everything to stop him. They use switches, they try to trap him and they consistently apply pressure when he has the ball in his hands.

Yet no team could halt his streak until the Hawks did so Monday night.

“They were really aggressive on him,” said Brad Stevens after the game. “They were really tough on him. They bodied him up, they were physical, they had a bunch of different guys on him at different times and they were very active off of the screens.

“And then the biggest thing against this team that we’ve struggled with all the way back to last year is just finishing at the rim. And part of that’s when (Dwight) Howard’s in the game with his size. But (Paul) Millsap does a great job protecting the rim too. And we missed a ton of layups.”

Thomas missed 17 of his 21 shot attempts from the field Monday night. Part of that was because of Atlanta’s suffocating defense. And part of that is due to the fact that IT is simply mortal; no player in the NBA, regardless of ability, is going to be perfect every single night.

“I just missed a lot of shots in the paint that I usually make,” said Thomas.

Stevens had gotten so used to Thomas’ 20-point efforts that he admitted after the game that he had no idea the streak came to an end.

“His consistency scoring the ball has been incredible,” said the coach. “He’s had an incredible run at it, and you’re going to have nights like [this]; that’s certainly the case.”

It’s hard to believe that a 19-point effort can be considered an off night, isn’t it? That would be a completely satisfactory performance for nearly any other player in the league.

Not for Thomas.

“That’s how it is when you want to be great,” he stated.

When it comes to consistency, there has been no player that has reached Thomas’ level this season. He has scored at least 18 points in 57 straight games dating back to last season.

The second-longest 18-point stretch belongs to Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns – he has recorded 26 consecutive such efforts.

The 20-point mark, however, has much more appeal than 18, so now Thomas will attempt to start up a new 20-point streak from scratch.
The question is, will he ever be able to approach the record he just established?

“I’m not worried about it,” Thomas answered with a confident grin. “I’ll break it again.”