Washington Wizards: How the Team Contained Isaiah Thomas in Game 3

Washington Wizards coach Scott Brooks went back to the defensive drawing board before Game 2, hoping to keep All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas in check. The renewed approach helped, as Thomas scored only 13 points in Game 3.

Isaiah Thomas scored 53 points Tuesday in Game 2, in one of the most explosive offensive performances in NBA playoff history. He shot 18-33, with 5 three pointers, and had 29 points in the 4th quarter and overtime.

In Game 3, Washington limited Thomas to 13 points on 8 shot attempts, and no three-point makes. Here’s the discrepancy between his shot charts from Game 2 and Game 3.

After losing the way Washington did in Game 2, they had to be thinking “Anyone but Isaiah”. Specifically, there were three ways they disrupted his offensive rhythm, plus a potential exterior assist.

Getting the Ball Out of Isaiah’s Hands

In Game’s 1 and 2, Thomas had usage rates of 33% and 41% respectively. With the ball in his hands at this rate, IT averaged 28 shot attempts a game.

Many of these shots came on layups, three pointers and mid range pull ups. As IT has become an experienced and efficient scorer, he has perfected these moves, routinely forcing contact and converting and-1 opportunities.

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The number one focus in Game 3 was getting the ball out of Isaiah’s hands. With that in mind Washington routinely brought two or three players towards IT when he had the ball.

With Thomas’ size and quickness, two players approaching at the wrong angle, can easily be beat. The film session prior to the game must have really gotten through to the Wizards players. Thomas took only 8 shot attempts, and had a usage rate of 23% in Game 3.

Making IT Work on Defense

For much of the first two games, Celtics coach Brad Stevens elected to have Thomas guard Otto Porter or Kelly Oubre on defense. Keeping him off of Beal and Wall, would hopefully keep Thomas fresh to do supreme damage on the offensive end.

Defenders on Wall and Beal are subjected to a lot of screens, on-ball and off-ball, in addition to the physical toll of guarding players who are fast and 6’4″ and 6’5″.

In Game 3 the Wizards attacked IT by posting Porter on IT early and often. The height difference of a foot really made a difference, as the aggressive Porter was able to turn and shoot with ease over the smaller Thomas.

"Beal said of the strategy after the game, retold in the Washington Post, “They’re trying to hide him a little bit, so we wanted to expose that. Otto gave him some trouble in the post. John did too. We were able to move the ball out of it, and that’s a good look for us. We’re going to continue to stick with it if they’re going to continue to hide him.”"

An underrated part of Kelly Oubre’s ejection, was the Celtics could no longer put Thomas on Oubre. In his place, Scott Brooks elected to give Bojan Bogdanovic more minutes.

After only playing 8 minutes in Game 2, Bojan came out firing, hitting his first 3 three pointers. Similar to Beal, Bojan comes off a variety of screens causing his defender to extend energy in pursuit.

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Contrary to Beal’s abilities, Bojan is also a solid post player, with experience playing with his back to the basket in international play.

With Bojan playing 29 minutes, Stevens had a tougher choice of who to have Thomas guard on defense.

Didn’t Lose Isaiah Off-Ball

This postseason, Thomas is shooting 50% on corner threes, with 68% of those shots coming off assists. Thus, Thomas is doing most of his superb shooting from the corner off-ball.

These shots have come on good ball movement, crosscourt passing, and second chance points. Washington did a much better job Thursday night of not losing Thomas in the motions.

Another area of focus was pressuring Thomas when he runs off screens looking to receive the ball. By fighting through the screen and stopping the pass, it made the ballhandler uncomfortable. This was part of the reason Marcus Smart had a career high 8 turnovers.

Free Throw Controversy?

Something interesting happened early in Game 3. No it wasn’t Kelly on Kelly crime. It was Thomas missing 4 of his first 7 free throw attempts. On the season he shot 91% on 649 free throw attempts.

Earlier on Thursday, the Washington Post ran a story titled: Yes, Celtics’ Isaiah Thomas always commits free throw violations that aren’t called. The central point was that he “often steps into the lane with his left foot before the ball reaches the cylinder.”

During the game, many Wizards fans watched his feet on free throws, and noticed that he wasn’t taking that usual step into the lane. Was he simply reverting back to a norm of not committing a violation on free throws? Or, was he thinking specifically about not committing the act, which result in the negation of the attempt?

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Either way, Thomas found himself 3-7 from the free throw line in the first half, another sign that he was out of rhythm during the game.

Then again, maybe his poor FT shooting had more to do with his surgically repaired teeth falling out in the second quarter, causing him to miss the start of the second half.

Moving Forward

Some of Isaiah’s struggles also came from the fact that the game was out of reach pretty early. Thomas did not play at all in the fourth quarter, and while he only took 8 shot attempts, he also only played 28 minutes.

Thomas has already stated that he will be more aggressive in Game 4 as he said, “I’ll make the adjustments. It’s fine.”

Washington knows it won’t see the same Isaiah Thomas in Game 4. Players and coaches will surely stress that in the days between games, and it will be up to the players to execute Game 4’s strategy towards containing Thomas.

Next: Washington Wizards: What Went Right in Game 3

The first two games, while disappointing, showcased exactly why Isaiah Thomas is one of the hardest players to guard. The renewed effort from Game 3 will go a long way towards deciding who advances to the Eastern Conference Finals, and who will be spending late May somewhere tropical.

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