NBA Tuesday: Isaiah Thomas scores 53 points to carry the Celtics to a 2-0 lead

BOSTON — Hours after securing the Celtics’ first playoff series victory in five years and the first of his career, Isaiah Thomas flew home to Seattle to deliver the eulogy at his sister’s funeral. He talked about wanting to quit when he found out Chyna had died in a car accident on the eve of the playoffs and how he had never entertained those thoughts before. But Chyna wouldn’t have let him quit, and so Isaiah said that everything he would do from here on out would be for her.

He arrived back in Boston at 4 a.m. on Sunday with Game 1 of its second-round series with Washington scheduled for early that afternoon. His coach, Brad Stevens, later said that he didn’t know when Thomas had arrived, but he had texted with him throughout the day about speaking at the funeral. Stevens, like everyone else, is amazed at how Thomas has persevered through the tragedy.

On Tuesday, Game 2 between Washington and Boston gave us everything: a point guard duel, an impossibly incredible performance from the Celtics’ superstar, a tight game with buckets being exchanged down the stretch, and an overtime period that saw a one-man takeover.

Several of those phrases describe Isaiah Thomas, who scored 53 points on his late sister’s birthday. But that game was amazing outside of Thomas’ tragic family circumstances, too.

The Golden State Warriors were as good as we expected them to be on Tuesday. The presumptive favorites for the 2017 championship haven’t proven they’re simply “better than everyone,” but they have certainly been better than everyone they’ve had a chance to play so far. The rest may — or will — come in time.

In Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Utah Jazz, the Warriors often only lead by about 10 points and still felt like they controlled the game for 48 minutes. They ended up with a 106-94 win thanks to Stephen Curry’s 22 points on 11 shots and the rest of the starters each pitching in double digits. On their home court, freshly rested off a series that went over four games, the Warriors put on a performance all night. It was hard to miss.

John Wall injured his wrist in at the end of the first quarter of Game 2 against the Boston Celtics. While attempting to defend a Kelly Olynyk shot, Wall had his feet knocked out from under him and fell hard on his left wrist.

You can see how high Wall was here, before breaking the fall with this left hand.

Isaiah Thomas dropped 53 points during a playoff game in The Garden. He’s not a Boston Celtics point guard anymore; he’s a legend now.

In his 53, the most points scored in the playoffs since 2003, he scored 20 points in the fourth quarter alone as Boston soared back to force overtime. In the extra period, he dropped nine more. With each shot he hit, it felt increasingly like we were watching something truly special. When he did all that and carried the team to a 129-119 win to go up 2-0 in a second-round playoff series, it immortalized this moment.

Game 2 of the Wizards-Celtics series gave us one of the best games of the playoffs so far. A dueling match between Isaiah Thomas and John Wall led the way for most of the game, but it was Thomas who stole the spotlight late, scoring 53 points and willing the Celtics to a 129-119 overtime win.

Thomas scored 29 points combined in the fourth quarter and overtime, proving he really is King of the Fourth. His 53 points for the game were the most in a playoff game since 2003.

Isaiah Thomas just wanted to complain to an official about a call that surely wronged him egregiously. (I mean, I don’t know, but that’s what they always say, at least.) However, Markieff Morris wasn’t buying it.

Thomas took it in stride and used his top-notch elusiveness to get a free lane to complain to the referee, anyway. That’s the type of creativeness that has Thomas as one of the top scorers in the league.

The Celtics and Wizards have plenty of regular season beef, this we know. Now that they’re in a playoff series, we can get to the real stuff. Like when Al Horford stepped into Markieff Morris after a shot during Game 1, which caused Morris to twist his ankle and miss the rest of the game.

Now it’s not my place to say whether Horford did that on purpose or not, but Morris wasn’t happy about it. So to start Game 2, Morris and Horford were going after a loose ball and Morris gave a nice push to Horford which sent him into a row of photographers. And also Wizards team owner Ted Leonsis.