Isaiah Thomas didn’t miss a beat against the Trail Blazers

Isaiah Thomas couldn’t help but grin as he walked onto the court to play in his first game in seven months on Tuesday night against the Trail Blazers. He checked in off the bench to a huge standing ovation in Cleveland, and didn’t keep his emotions in.

It was perfect.

Thomas took months to properly heal a hip injury over the summer, and through the beginning of the Cavaliers season, waiting for this point. For half of that recovery period, he thought he’d make his comeback in Celtics green, until he was blindsided by a Kyrie Irving blockbuster deal in August.

It really has been an up-and-down year for the point guard, who also suffered the loss of his sister in the middle of his playoff run in 2017.

His New Year’s tweet touched on it all:

Thomas was ALL the way back, at least physically, in his Cavs debut, though. He scored 17 points, dished three assists, and knocked down four three-pointers, shooting his way right into the Cavs offense. He played limited minutes (19), but his role as scorer stayed true for every tick.

He was the late-game spark Cleveland needed in its 127-110 win.

Right from the jump, Thomas was ready to fire from distances we’ve become accustomed to watching him drain shots from. He took 12 shots (tied for second-most on the team) and eight of those were threes.

He seemed to know his role already, firing up a large portion of the shots when he was playing with the reserves, and using screens from Kevin Love and LeBron James to get clean looks with the starters. He was comfortable enough to pick up a technical foul just minutes into his return, arguing about a non-call.

Thomas was a distributor too, racking up three assists — and a few hockey assists — to two turnovers, already having a feel for where his teammates would be. He proved he has chemistry with Dwyane Wade already, and had a pair of unreal passes to the cutting shooting guard.

Cleveland’s offense is only going to get better with IT in the lineup.

Cleveland has less than four months to get Thomas fully back and into the starting rotation. He played just a handful of minutes with LeBron and Love in his debut, and is will continue to be on a minutes restriction that will sit him out of the Cavs’ next game against Boston. As we’ve seen with every other “Big 3,” building chemistry takes time, and this won’t be an easy project.

But Thomas was brilliant in his debut, and if he’s properly rested, his health should no longer be an obstacle. He’ll need all the time he can get to prepare for the Toronto Raptors, and his former Boston Celtics. As it stands now, both appear to be threats to LeBron’s Eastern Conference reign.

The integration of Thomas could give Cleveland the edge they need.