Isaiah Thomas: 'They don't ever give us a chance, and we just keep going'
— -- BOSTON -- Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas knows his top-seeded team will be considered the underdog against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals, but he believes Boston will continue to use that as motivation.
"They didn't give us a chance [against the Wizards]. They didn't give us a chance when we were down 2-0 to Chicago. We got the No. 1 seed, they didn't give us a chance," Thomas said after scoring a team-high 29 points in Monday's Game 7 triumph over Washington.
"They don't ever give us a chance, and we just keep going; we don't care about what others say."
Thomas acknowledged the challenges that lie ahead with Cleveland but said he would savor the Celtics' series win over the Wizards for a few hours before turning his attention to the Cavaliers on Tuesday.
Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals is Wednesday night at TD Garden.
"I've never been to the Eastern Conference finals, so this is something off my bucket list," Thomas said. "We gotta get ready for the defending champs, we know that. The good thing about it is we've got home-court advantage, so we're going to be ready on Wednesday to try to take care of home court. We know it's going to be tough, but at this point, anything can happen. We really believe that."
"They're playing at a really high level," Horford said. "The regular season for them is just kind of like, let's get through it. And now they've turned it up to another level. So it's going to be a fun challenge for our group."
Asked whether Boston is the underdog in that matchup, Horford replied, "Of course. They're the champs."
Celtics coach Brad Stevens smiled when asked about the challenges of preparing for the Cavaliers on a quick turnaround and noted, "I've seen them play before."
Added Stevens: "We played them four times. I think they're better than any of the four times we played them, including the last one when they smashed us. So we're going to have to play really well. As we go into [Tuesday's practice], the most important thing the coaches can do -- the assistant coaches that have already worked on the scouting stuff ahead of time and myself -- is to make it as simple as possible in a short turnaround, which is easier said than done against these guys. But what a special opportunity to get a chance to compete against them."
The conference finals will be the sixth playoff series between the Celtics and a James team, two more than any other opponent James has faced in the postseason. James' teams are 3-2 against the Celtics in the playoffs, winning the past three series.
While Kelly Olynyk emerged as the unexpected hero of Game 7, Thomas overcame some shooting woes to hit big shots when they mattered. Thomas hit a pair of big 3-pointers at the end of the third quarter to ignite an 18-2 Boston run. He capped that burst with a pull-up 3-pointer that had the Celtics out front 94-81 with 10:00 to play.
After Monday's game, Stevens hinted that Thomas is battling some bumps and bruises on top of the emotional grief he endured with the death of his sister at the start of the playoffs.
"[Thomas] was terrific [in Game 7]. And the 12-to-2 assist-to-turnover is as powerful as the 29 points," Stevens said. "I thought he made a lot of great plays. A lot of these shots that others made in the fourth quarter were off of his passes or started with them putting two guys on Isaiah and, man, is he a tough guy.
"He's dealing with more stuff, physically, and has obviously gone through what he went through at the start of the playoffs. It's pretty remarkable."
Thomas was asked after Monday's win about playing through pain.
"I'm hurting, but it's the playoffs. There are no excuses," Thomas said. "I get my treatment every day, and I'm ready to play."
