In Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Friday, the Cavaliers beat the Celtics 130-86 in one of the least competitive playoff games in memory. It was the second straight blowout win for Cleveland, which now heads home to Quicken Loans Arena with a 2-0 series lead.
To anyone who watched Game 2, there was every reason to expect this series would continue to be boring an uncompetitive right until the Cavs secured their spot in the Finals. But just in case there was any sliver of a chance the Celtics could make the series interesting, Boston quashed it Saturday with the announcement that leading scorer Isaiah Thomas will miss the rest of the postseason with a hip injury.
Thomas hurt his hip during the first half of Game 2 and did not return after halftime.
This injury ends a tumultuous postseason for Thomas. The All-Star point guard suffered the agonizing loss of his sister last month, then scored only 23.3 points per game on 42.5 percent shooting, far below his regular season numbers. Thomas did score 53 points on his sister’s birthday in one of the season’s most touching moments, and he did reach the conference finals with a Celtics team that’s far from a juggernaut on paper, but overall the postseason wasn’t quite the coming-out party it could have been for him.
And now that Thomas is gone, and the Celtics will have to take on LeBron and the Cavs without their best player and lone All-Star. Best of luck to them with that.
Of course, not only will Thomas miss the rest of the series against the Cavs, he won’t be able to return if the Celtics make the NBA Fina—hahahahahaha, just kidding.
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