Is Isaiah Thomas a Forgettable Celtic?

It's Isaiah Thomas' first game with the Cavaliers tonight.  I have to admit that I totally forgot that he hadn't played a game since hurting his hip in the playoffs last year. The boys both ask me when and where the game is on.  I'm mildly interested, but only because there is no football on.  It's really tough for me to watch the Cavs unless they are playing the Celtics.  It's not that I dislike the Cavs, I just don't like LeBron, Dwyane Wade, Jr Smith and Kevin Love.  I guess I just don't like the Cavs.

"I think ESPN or TNT."  I answer looking around at espn.com.

"It's his first game back." C tells me, in a way to explain his interest.  I thought the Cavs were going to play Jose Calderon at the point all year, I thought to myself.

IT4 in Happier Times

We then watch a preview where IT asks the Celtics not to give them the video montage during the game tomorrow night.  Incidentally, he has decided not to play against the Celtic in the second game of the back to back, so we'll have to be satisfied with watching him play against the Blazers.  The report then goes on to show a Twitter war between Thomas and some hockey tool named Jimmy Murphy who called for Thomas to get over himself.  For Christ's sake!  My question is...who cares?  He was with the Celtics for two and half years.  And while he averaged 25 points a game, the Celtics didn't win any championships with him in the line up.  To get to the Warriors' level, the Celtics had to blow things up, use their considerable draft assets and look for a charismatic superstar who can bring the bench players with him.  This is today's NBA and no offense to him, but Thomas' 25 points a night were never going to be enough.

It's in this backdrop that I switch the game on.  Thomas isn't starting, but that does not surprise me.  He comes in in the middle of the first quarter and proceeds to score 8 points on 2 of 6 shooting while handing out 2 assists.  Surprisingly, he has neither a block, steal nor a steal in the first half.  He did pick up a technical foul though.  The Blazers win the first half, 56-53.  I started thinking about where he would be placed in the list of all time Celtics.  Let's just say he would not be placed that high.  Oh Yeah, Damian Lillard is leading the Blazers in scoring with 19 points.  I forgot to mention that the Cavs are not playing against themselves.

I turn the game back in the second half just in time to see the IT timeline.  Drafted at the second round by the Kings (of course the Kings screwed this one up), Thomas was then shipped off to the Suns in the hopes of winning the NBA Championship (just kidding).  While he was a two time all star with the Celtics, I had forgotten that he averaged 20 points a game in Sacramento too.

As the game goes on, IT looks rusty and is being outdone by another former Celtic - Jae Crowder.  I wonder if Jimmy Murphy chirped Crowder about cheering for Gordon Hayward on his way out of Boston.

Anyway, Thomas ends the game with 16 points and 3 assists.  The Cavs, led improbably by Dwyane Wade start pulling away from the Blazers and end up winning by more than 10 points.  And I finished a Cavs blog without talking about LeBron more than just a passing mention of how I think he sucks.

The Kyrie Irving Era Has Begun and LeBron James Can't Stand It

Of course LeBron James had to make it about himself during the Kyrie story.

"Oh my knee!" James weasels as the camera shutters are furiously fighting for his attention.  "Oh I don't think I can play until I decide that the attention is squarely focused on me, then I can play."  James can't fool me with his inside voice.  This is not Irving's homecoming as much as it is James'

Who cares if its Kyrie Irving's first game in Cleveland since the big trade?  LeBron still wants to show Irving the car keys that he's missing out on.  And just to make a loss a little more plausible, James' faking of an injury is such a LeBron move.  I'm just surprised it wasn't "cramps."  Nevertheless, James wants Irving to know that he is still the little brother on the Cavs' Court.   

But let's get back to Kyrie.  Is Boston demonstrably better after the trade?  The answer is no, unless you count the fact that Isaiah Thomas is out until January with his hip pain so we wouldn't have had a point guard for the first 4 months of the season.  Imagine Derrick Rose in a Celtics uniform?  I know I'm glad I don't have to.  In a star-driven league, though, the Celtics have risen to the top of the Eastern Conference - hurdling over the Cavs because of the trade.  While the Celtics bench was blown up in order to sign Gordon Hayward and make room for Kyrie Irving, and Tyrion had many highlights in the past two years, the starting 5 has markedly improved and, at the end of the day, that is what matters when its not about the team, it's about how well your best three players can share the rock.  Let's face it, an imp and a deep bench was not going to get the Celtics anywhere except a blowout in Game 4, 5, 6 or 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals.  Something had to be done and Danny fished out a gold mine in what would have been a lost year.

But now with the resurgent Big 3 (Trademark pending), the Celtics are poised to jump over the LeBrons and fight the Western Conference Champions.  And tonight is the start of the new Era in Celtics' basketball.  Let's go the live blog.

Kyrie with First 2 points of the season?

And of course Kyrie scores the first two points of the season (although you wouldn't know it by the TNT scorekeeper who had the following scores in the first 2 minutes of the game.

Cavs 2-0
Celtics 6-0
Tied 4-4
Celtics 4-3

What? I don't know what's going on.  The announcers have it right.  This seems like the start of an All Star Game.

And just like that, the Celtics' season is all but over.  I hope Gordon Hayward is OK.  That sucks.