Isaiah Thomas Saves Another Game in Fourth Quarter

Isaiah Thomas’ fourth quarter performances have been the highlight of the Boston Celtics’ season

We are starting to see a trend with the Boston Celtics this season, and it is something to get incredibly excited about. Isaiah Thomas has always been the best and go to scorer on the Celtics, but he continues to see his game evolve in multiple ways. On top of having career high production across the board, Thomas is becoming one of the best closers in the NBA, and he has almost singlehandedly won games late in the fourth against both the Pacers and now the Mavericks this season.

Thomas has the second most points per fourth quarter this year, and in terms of points per minutes played, he is number one in the league. Thomas has consistently run the offense well this year, but he has been taking matters into his own hands to close out games and it has paid off big time.

One of the most underrated aspects of both of Thomas’ fourth quarter surges this season are the fact that they both came after awful shooting through the first three quarters of those games. Throw in that Thomas’ last performance was through visible pain in his finger, and he is taking his relentless attack to another level. The Celtics have had issues closing games in the past, and their lack of that clutch scorer has been evident. If these early games are any indication, the Celtics have exactly what they need to close out games. The added security of knowing they can trust Thomas, even during an off game, changes and vastly improves what they will look to do in the fourth quarter.

Thomas has made it clear that he wants the ball in his hands at all times, and when it comes to crunch time, he wants to be taking all the shots. Making intelligent and aggressive decisions will always be key to his game, but that mentality shifts a bit when the game is on the line. Thomas and the Celtics realize how much better he is as a scorer and, even if he is not the hot hand up to that point, Thomas will always get his opportunity to close out games. Thomas’ rising assists also suggests that he will not force the issue when he needs to. The weapons around him will be changing soon, but if its by scoring or by distributing, Thomas will be Boston’s deciding factor in close fourth quarters.

Thomas has also avoided being a one dimensional player in those situations. He realizes that predictability will take everyone out of rhythm late in games, and his balance of shooting at attacking the rim will always keep defenses off balance.

That ability to drive to the rim is the ultimate equalizer. Thomas realizes that he will not always be shooting lights out, and he has proven that he can still manufacture points at the rim. Thomas does not need his jump shot to close games, because teams still have not figured out how to stop him at the rim.

He leads the league in drives to the rim and on a night when he struggled to get going for three quarters, he finished with 16 free throws against the Mavericks. Thomas continues to develop in Stevens’ offense and the results continue to speak for themselves. Add that Thomas has avoided turnover issues and he is becoming one of the most trusted players in the league late in the game.

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These kind of fourth quarter surges could be a trend for the Celtics this year. Even when Jae Crowder and Al Horford return, Thomas remains their only trusted pure scorer. No one will be complaining with Horford taking some of that control when he returns, but Thomas’ role continues to grow and these fourth quarter performances could lead to a lot of wins for the Celtics.

Thomas is posting career highs with 27.2 points per game and 6.6 assists per game. There is a good chance that the scoring could take a dip once the team is at full strength, but most of that will be coming in the first three quarters. Thomas is establishing a level of trust on offense that no one else on the team can come close to and that gets amplified with the game on the line.

Thomas will be getting more weapons to dish it out to, but he should continue to get better as a playmaker in the fourth quarter. Thomas has proven that he can figure out what he needs to do to score, and he will do that no matter what happened in the first three quarters.

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On a team as young as the Celtics, it is often difficult to find players with the experience they need to be closers. Even Thomas lacked a great deal of comfort in that area in the past, but that is quickly changing. Thomas adapted his game in order to become more of a distributor in his second season with the team, and now he is adapting his game to become a better closer, giving the Celtics one of the missing pieces that will become necessary if they want to become a true championship contender.