Fans of the Boston Celtics have a place in their pantheon of Celtics greats forever for what he did with the storied ball club in his brief tenure with the team. And while plenty of that is due to his role as the “King in the Fourth” for Boston as a lethal scorer in the final frame of a contest and how it powered a magical run for the Celtics, it was his selfless play in the wake of his sister Chyna’s tragic death that cemented his spot as an unassailable icon among Boston greats.
Thomas, who recently rejoined the Celtics organization as a scout, recently sat down with the host of the semi-eponymous “All There Is with Anderson Cooper” podcast to talk about how he played for his sister in his final postseason run with Boston that saw him score a surreal 53 points. “Game 2 is on my sister’s birthday, May 2nd,” said the Little Guy.
“Every shot I made, every shot was going in, and the magnitude of the game, it was a close game (…) And I’ve had a 50-point game before in the NBA,” added IT. “I’ve had games where it’s like, dang, those shots are going in (…)”
“It was just going in, and I knew it,” he continued. “I’m like, that’s her. I felt her. She was at that game. Me to score 53 points on her birthday, in a moment where the world was watching. I didn’t hear my coach. I didn’t hear my teammates (…), It was silent.”
“I didn’t hear the fans. I didn’t hear nothing. There was no emotion. I had no emotion in that game. I wasn’t there. I was in the gym by myself at the YMCA Community Center growing up, and she’s right there. That was all God and all my sister. That was for her.”
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: IT on how he felt sister’s presence in Celtics 53-pt playoff game