No tribute tonight for Isaiah Thomas, per his request


Isaiah Thomas made his debut last night for the Cavaliers against the Portland Trailblazers in front of the Cleveland faithful at the Quicken Loans Arena. Thomas checked in midway through the first quarter last night to a rousing ovation from the home crowd:


Thomas had himself a solid debut for his new team, scoring 17 points in 19 minutes. He shot 6 for 12 from the field (3 of 8 from deep) and dished three assists in his abbreviated first stint with the Cavs.

As we noted earlier this week, Thomas will not play against the Celtics in Boston tonight, and despite the fact that he'll still be courtside on the the Cavs bench his representatives have asked the Celtics not to play a video tribute for him during the game, partly because he won't be on the floor playing. Via Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe:

“It would be a special moment for my family to see that [tribute video],” Thomas said after Cleveland’s 127-110 victory over the Trail Blazers. “When my representatives talked to them, I felt like me being able to play and my family to see how loved we really were, that’s only right. And they respected that.”

According to Isaiah, there's a potential plan in place to do it the next time the Cavaliers are in Boston, February 11th, which also happens to be the night the Celtics will raise Paul Pierce's number 34 to the rafters:

“The Celtics respected that and we’ll probably do it on the 11th,” Thomas said. “With my family there, I think my mom and dad will come, too. It will be a special night. Yeah, that’s good.”

I had mixed feelings about this when I first read it, because as much as I love Isaiah I'm also one of the biggest Pierce stans you're gonna find. It's Paul's night, and it still will be, but Throwing in the Isaiah tribute mid-game will just be an added bonus for anybody in attendance. The next time Thomas would be in town would be in a potential playoff series, and I don't want to celebrate opposing players when we're playing with those stakes. I don't care who they are.

That Feb. 11th game is already sold out for obvious reasons, but you can still get yourself in the building via the link at the top of our site.


Photo Credit - NBC Sports/AP Photo

Follow Mark on Twitter: @MarkAL401




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