Fred Hoiberg says Isaiah Thomas travels on "every single possession"
Well now, things are getting a little salty over in Chicago after they followed up their 2-0 series lead with two straight blowout losses at home. After last night's latest Running of the Bulls: off the court edition Chicago coach Fred Hoiberg followed up some comments about Isaiah Thomas being "a warrior...for everything he's going through" with a nonchalant smear on how he travels (carries) on every single possession:
Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg complains that referees allow Celtics' Isaiah Thomas to "discontinue [his] dribble on every possession"... pic.twitter.com/CgvsCb13Ic— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) April 24, 2017
First of all, it's absolutely hilarious to me that head coach Fred is complaining about the officiating after a game in which Jimmy Butler shot more free throws than the entire Celtics team. Chicago got the the line 33 times vs 22 for Boston (Butler had 23 trips himself). So yeah, it really looks like the officials were definitely out to get them.
As for carrying the ball, does Isaiah do it from time to time? Sure. He probably did it a handful of times yesterday, but in case Fred hasn't noticed this has been going on in the NBA, and more or less basketball in general, for twenty-something years. A few culprits: Jordan, Kobe, Iverson, Nash, Curry, Harden, Durant, Lebron, hell Magic Johnson was doing it in the 80s. And let's not forget he's got one of the worst offenders of all time on his own team:
via GIPHY
Isaiah brushed off the comments in his post game press conference and noted that he doesn't think he's been called for a carry this entire season:
"That's not the reason why I'm an impossible cover." Isaiah in response to Hoiberg.— CelticsLife.com (@CelticsLife) April 24, 2017
Gerald Green trying to keep a straight face and IT's kids laughing at the comments made it all worth it. Then this guy comes off the top rope and made sense of it all:
@CelticsLife Hoiberg is right - @Isaiah_Thomas has been known to carry... his team!— Shailesh Panth (@spanth) April 24, 2017
Photo Credit - Jamie Squire/Getty Images
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