Game 3 would be a good time for Isaiah Thomas to break out of his recent shooting slump
On April 8 against the Bucks, Isaiah Thomas put up 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting as the Celtics cruised to an easy 124-109 victory. That was the final day of Thomas' 18-game streak of scoring 20 points or more. He logged only 25 minutes of action that evening after taking a hard fall and landing on his right wrist in the second half.
The Celtics are 1-4 since. In Boston's next game (coincidentally against the Hawks), Thomas was just 6-for-19 from the field. Isaiah said yesterday that his wrist is still bothering him, but it doesn't sound like it's anything that should affect his shooting, especially since he's left-handed:
Isaiah Thomas said his wrist isn't 100 percent, but only hurts when he falls on it so he tries not to fall.— Bill Doyle (@BillDoyle15) April 20, 2016
However, over the Celtics' last five contests, Thomas is a combined 28-of-83 (33.7 percent) from floor. His best shooting game in that stretch was a 6-for-13 effort in the blowout loss to Charlotte last week. Isaiah is 12-of-36 (33 percent) in this series against Atlanta.
Thomas on offensive woes: “With this series, we haven’t been able to make shots, and all they’re doing is packing the paint.”— Boston Celtics (@celtics) April 20, 2016
With Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynyk out in Game 2, the Hawks didn't have to worry about guarding the perimeter and Thomas struggled to get to the rim. If Isaiah's jumper isn't falling and he can't get open looks in the paint... yikes.
Olynyk didn't practice today and Brad Stevens called him "questionable at best" for Game 3, so this issue isn't going away (although maybe Jonas Jerebko can help?). What's the solution?
#Celtics Isaiah Thomas on what team needs to do to turn series around: "Make shots."— Scott Souza (@Scott_Souza) April 20, 2016
Sounds good Isaiah. Get it done.
Follow Mark Vandeusen on Twitter @LucidSportsFan
