Isaiah Thomas wants Celtics vs Cavs in the conference finals
With a huge win over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night in front of a national audience the Boston Celtics certainly look like they might be the real deal. That particular victory marked their 14th straight, quite a feat for a a team that lost one of it's star players just minutes into the opening contest this season against the reigning kings of the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
While the Celtics-Cavaliers rivalry regained some steam last year as the two teams clashed in the Eastern Conference Finals, the seismic trade that swapped stars Kyrie Irving and Isaiah Thomas certainly set the fire between the two teams ablaze after Kyrie wanted out of Cleveland. The Cavaliers have been treading water without their star point guard Thomas, who's out until sometime after the new year at least.
LeBron James has had to play a ton of minutes, a league-high 617 through 16 contests, just to keep the Cavs afloat at 9 and 7, which is good for 7th in the Conference, just a half-game ahead of the 9th place New York Knicks. Despite that, the East goes through LeBron and Co until it doesn't. James has been to 7 straight NBA Finals dating back to his Miami Heat days, and this wouldn't be the first time his team has gotten off to a sluggish start and still ended up in the Finals.
Obviously the injection of Thomas into the Cavs lineup will be a massive boost whenever it comes, and our old pal wants nothing more to help the Cavs to a title. Knocking the Celtics out on his way there would be the icing on the cake. Sam Amick of USA Today Sports spoke with Thomas about what it would mean to eliminate the team that shipped him out of town last offseason. Via Dan Devine of Yahoo Sports:
Amick: "Does it make it more fun if you guys clash with the Celtics in the conference finals and you’re taking care of them on the way to Finals?"
Isaiah: “Oh, that would be lovely. That would be the story that God made, and it probably will work that way. It always does. It always works — I’m not going to say in my favor, but it seems to always work out, no matter what the circumstance is. That would be a special moment. If they make it there, and we make it there, and then we clash, and then you never know what’s going to happen. But I’ll be ready for whatever happens.”
Can't say I blame the guy. It would obviously be justice in his eyes to down the team that "upgraded" him for another player at his very position despite what he did last year, putting the team on his back and carrying them all the way to their first conference finals appearance since 2012.
Cavs vs Celtics and Isaiah vs Kyrie in a 7 game series would be great theatre any way you slice it, but I'd prefer a different ending to the one Isaiah wants.
Photo Credit - AP Photo
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