![\"Isaiah](\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/isaiah-thomas-e1494396912338.jpg\")
<\/a>Isaiah Thomas.<\/p><\/div>\n
I\u2019ll go in order in a little bit, but first and foremost I must spare not \u201ca,\u201d but \u201cmany,\u201d thoughts for probably my favorite player, little Isaiah Thomas. In case you\u2019re not a basketball fan, but like to be aware of the human interest stories, you can\u2019t get more dramatic than this one. To begin with, Isaiah is beloved in Boston, where he\u2019s a young Celtic. \u00a0At just 5\u20199\u201d, in a game dominated by giants, everything he\u2019s accomplished on the court is amazing. His play is so fascinating to behold.<\/p>\n
But what happened to him recently is unbelievable, and not in a good way. And, as horrible as it all is, the timing makes it even worse. The day before the play-offs began, (Isaiah had led his Celts to the first place spot in the east, ahead of Lebron James and the Cavaliers, which is special enough,) Isaiah\u2019s almost twenty-three-year-old little sister got killed in a\u00a0car accident. The day before what was to be the best time in his life!<\/p>\n
He was miserable enough, but made the excruciating decision to stay in Boston and play. He hasn\u2019t missed a game. And his team, under his leadership, won their really tough first round series. So, that night, he flew to Washington state for the funeral, gave the eulogy, and flew back first thing the very next morning for an early afternoon game. And he was the first one in the arena! What a guy!<\/p>\n
<\/a>Isaiah Thomas, still playing, (and smiling!,) even after losing a tooth!<\/p><\/div>\n
So, a few minutes into that first game of Round Two\u2014you\u2019ll never believe this\u2014he hit a guy\u2019s elbow with his mouth and\u2026lost his front tooth! It fell right out onto the court. But he didn\u2019t miss a beat. Isaiah finished the next two plays, and then looked around the floor, without making a fuss, and found the tooth! And brought it to the team doctor on the side, who tried to put it back in its place a little later on. (It didn\u2019t work\u2014the guy\u2019s a doctor<\/em>, not a miracle worker<\/em>.)<\/p>\n So, the next day, Isaiah underwent a six-hour dental surgery, where he was even asleep. The day after that, which was the second game of that series that night, his mouth blew up, (because it turned-out that his nerve also flew out of the gum on that play, and it ruined two other teeth, as well,) so he had to return to the hospital for another four hour procedure! All in all, he had three front teeth removed and got a bridge installed, as a temporary measure. The poor guy has played in so much pain and discomfort ever since. (And that bridge<\/em> even got cracked, when his mouth slammed into the court!)<\/p>\n On top of all that, that second game date would have been his sister\u2019s twenty-third birthday. And he wound-up scoring fifty-three points in that game, the second most in franchise history! How is this guy doing it? I can\u2019t even begin to imagine. Can you see why everyone in the know loves him?!<\/p>\n There were other issues for other players and teams in the past two weeks, but none worse than those Isaiah Thomas situations.<\/p>\n Tony Parker.<\/p><\/div>\n The next most horrible is what happened to the star of my favorite team, the San Antonio Spurs. They entered the play-offs as the second seed in the west, and have a Championship pedigree, so, even though I\u2019m absolutely positive that the Finals will come down to the Golden State Warriors versus the Cleveland Cavaliers, anyway, no one should ever count-out the Tony Parker-led Spurs.<\/p>\n So, the Spurs suffered a soul-crushing defeat to the Houston Rockets in Game One of the second round.\u00a0 They came back big-time in the second game of that series, due in big part to the play of Tony Parker. Near the end of the game, Tony jumped up to shoot the ball, and the second he came down, I knew it was bad news. He just crumbled to the floor, and sat there. I\u2019ve never seen anything like it. He didn\u2019t writhe in pain, he didn\u2019t scream, he didn\u2019t try to get up. I felt like his entire career was flashing through his mind; he knew something was terribly wrong.<\/p>\n Tony Parker being carried off the court by his teammates.<\/p><\/div>\n And it was. I think we all knew it when his teammates had to carry him off the floor.\u00a0 It turns-out that he ruptured a tendon in his quad and had season-ending surgery two days later. What a horrible turn of events for him, the fans, and the Spurs.<\/p>\n But I cheered myself up by thinking of it this way: maybe someone on his team will Shirley MacLaine it!\u00a0 I have a feeling that I\u2019m the only one in the world who would get, or even be interested in, that reference, but here\u2019s my brief explanation: The now-iconic Shirley was a young understudy to the star of Broadway\u2019s The Pajama Game<\/em>. People adored Carol Haney, (I know\u2014you never heard of her\u2014that\u2019s the point to this tale!,) and could not imagine the show without her. But when Carol broke her ankle, Shirley had to take her place for awhile, and her career took off from there. That need for someone to step-up gave the world a new star. So, that\u2019s what I\u2019m hoping will happen with the Spurs.<\/p>\n Paul Pierce, right after the final NBA game of his career! Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n The last thing I\u2019m sad about is not that dramatic. Paul Pierce finally retired, after having won a Championship with the Celtics a few years back, when he was coached by Doc Rivers, who really disappointed me on this one. I\u2019m happy for Paul that he got to finish-out his nineteen-year career with the Clippers, in his hometown of Los Angeles, once again being coached by Doc. As that final play-off game for the Clips wound down, I cannot for the life of me figure-out why Doc didn\u2019t let Paul get his career props from the crowd.\u00a0 I understand that Doc was still trying to win the game, and Paul wasn’t a part of that rotation for him, but we all knew that the end of the fourth quarter would have tons of quick starts and stops, so he could have put Paul in for one short spurt, just to take him out again and let him get the last ovation of his long career. That move, or lack of<\/em>, was very disappointing to me. Paul really deserved better than that, especially from his former-and-current coach.<\/p>\n Now here are the rest of my NBA Play-off thoughts, in chronological order:<\/p>\n Kawhi Leonard.<\/p><\/div>\n I absolutely love the Spurs Kawhi Leonard!<\/p>\n And I so admire forty-year-old Memphis Grizzly Vince Carter, for staying in the sport and doing what he loves, while having to take a much lesser role than he\u2019s used to. He could have retired as a star years ago, and taken one of the sport\u2019s glamour jobs, as an analyst or commentator. Or become a coach! He\u2019s older than a few of the ones in the league right now!<\/p>\n I\u2019m sort-of amazed that I saw Richard Jefferson and Quin Snyder as college players so many years ago, (which does feel like much more recently,) and now they’re both grown-up, one a commentator, the other an NBA coach! \u00a0Oysh.<\/p>\n While I\u2019m on the subject of Quin Snyder, I think it was really disrespectful of commentator Doug Collins to continually mispronounce his last name as \u201cSchneider!\u201d As I was tweeting my disgust about that rudeness, I noticed several others were doing the same thing. But Doug never addressed the topic.<\/p>\n Jonathan Lipnicki<\/p><\/div>\n Scott Brooks.<\/p><\/div>\n Here’s a little mirth in the midst of all this sadness:\u00a0Mr. X pointed-out that Washington Wizards coach Scott Brooks looks like a grown-up Jonathan Lipnicki. (At least the kid was was in a sports<\/em> film, Jerry Maguire<\/em>, so he kept the reference in the genre.)<\/p>\n Michelle Beadle’s dirty hair…and this is far from as filthy as it usually is! (I didn’t take any pix of the worst of it because I feared they would break my camera!)<\/p><\/div>\n ABC and ESPN studio host Michelle Beadle constantly has the most filthy hair! On-air! It\u2019s bad enough that she doesn\u2019t know any better herself, but what about her hair and make-up people??? Maybe that\u2019s why they work in the sports<\/em> field, rather than the more glamorous show biz ones. Ugh. It\u2019s just disgusting, and makes it hard to listen to what she\u2019s even saying. Somebody\u2014get that woman some shampoo already!!!<\/p>\n And lastly, (for now,) I feel awful for Oklahoma City Thunder star Russell Westbrook; he needs better support. And he also needs to remember that basketball is a team<\/em> sport; meaning he really needs to trust his teammates a bit more. In a couple of his team\u2019s play-off games, Russell kept trying to do it all himself, even when he was clearly out of gas. So, next season, let\u2019s hope he has some better players around him.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>