The Boston Celtics are playing some of their most inspired basketball all year. The Al Horford addition is finally starting to pay off and the Jae Crowder/Avery Bradley wing pair is working wonders despite Crowder’s twitter rant last night out of nowhere. But most importantly, the play of their 5’9″ leader Isaiah Thomas has elevated himself and his team to a whole new level.
Thomas is averaging an eye-popping 27.8 points per game over the campaign, good for 5th in the association. The University of Washington product had a particularly stellar December where he averaged upwards of 30 points per game and lead Boston to a 10-6 record, 9-3 with him in the lineup. Despite his terrific performance this past month, Washington Wizards guard John Wall edged him for Player of the Month honors in the Eastern Conference. When asked about the award, Thomas had a strong opinion. Following from ESPN’s Chris Forsberg:
Isaiah Thomas thinks the Player of the Month award should be his. "Hell yeah. I should definitely get that award."
— Chris Forsberg (@ESPNForsberg) January 2, 2017
Wall had himself a month as well, leading the Wizards to their first 10-win month (10-5) since December of 2014 while throwing up 24.5 points per game and dishing out an Eastern Conference best 10.7 assists per game.
The month Thomas had was typified by his 52-point explosion against the Miami Heat where 29 of those points came in the fourth quarter. Boston is getting elite production from Thomas at a complete bargain rate of only about $6.6 million annually. The high-scoring point guard is undoubtedly headed for a big day once he hits free agency in two summers.
As for the Player of the Month award, there was no doubt that both these talented floor generals were more than deserving. Thomas missing a few games in the month which may have hurt his chances in the end and the way Wall turned his squad’s fortunes was quite admirable in its own right. As all-star voting begins to heat up, it will be more interesting to see which combination of Eastern Conference point guards get the nod as Wall and Thomas both have to compete with Kyle Lowry, Kyrie Irving, and Kemba Walker in an all of a sudden deep point guard pool in the East.
