The Celtics dug themselves into a bit of a hole early on in Monday’s game against the Timberwolves.
They were down 16 points with 1:16 remaining in the first quarter, having allowed 31 points while only scoring 15. A big reason for the lack of scoring? Isaiah Thomas couldn’t get it going. The Celtics point guard at that time was 0-for-5 from the field and hadn’t gotten to the line once.
It got worse before it got better for Thomas, too. Though the Celtics went on a 17-0 run to close the first quarter and open the second quarter, taking a one-point lead in the process, Thomas didn’t score a single point - he was on the bench. When he returned with the Celtics down four points, he missed two more jump shots.
It wasn’t until 1:48 remaining in the second quarter when Thomas scored his first points of the game, a 14-foot jumper, to cut the deficit to nine points. He’d hit a layup and a three-pointer to close out the quarter with seven points.
Thomas finished with 18 points on 8-for-20 shooting, having gone a more respectable 5-for-9 in the second half. But the Wolves did a good job in limiting him, and especially keeping him from getting to the free throw line. Thomas didn't take a single free throw Monday night.
“They had two guys on me. Pick and roll, they had two guys on me the whole time until I gave the ball up,” Thomas said of his tough shooting night. “That’s probably what most teams are going to do the rest of the year and I’m going to make the right play and guys just have to knock down the shot. For the most part, the looks I got were pretty good, I just gotta knock them down. They showed five guys every time I was trying to penetrate.”
The Wolves put two players on Thomas during the C’s final inbounds play of the game, forcing Jae Crowder to inbounds the ball to Marcus Smart. Though Thomas did break free from the double team once the ball was in play, the ball didn’t find him.