Celtics look for road trip sweep when they face Pacers

Isaiah Thomas, Boston's Little Big Man, leads the Celtics into Indiana Thursday night looking for a sweep of a three-game road trip.

After missing four games with a groin strain -- the Celtics losing three of those games -- Thomas has returned, continuing his outstanding offensive push that tends to carry this team.

He was good in a home win over the Toronto Raptors in his home return, Thomas was better (shooting-wise) in a victory at Chicago and then erupted for a career-high 44 points in Tuesday night's comeback win at Memphis.

"(The Grizzlies) were punking us in the first half," Thomas told CSNNE after the game. "This might turn the season around (for us) for real."

The first win over a quality opponent came after the Celtics (16-12) fell behind by 17 points -- Thomas scoring 36 of his 44 in the second half and finishing the game 17-for-17 from the foul line.

He scored the second-most points by a Celtics guard in the last 50 years, trailing only Danny Ainge, who traded for him. According to Basketball-Reference, Thomas is the fourth player in the last 30 years to score 44 points with 16 or fewer shot attempts.

And, according to a tweet from Jay King on Masslive.com, "Before Isaiah Thomas tonight, only one player had ever made at least 17 FTs and seven 3-pointers: Kobe Bryant on the night he had 81 points."

"I'm a killer, I'm a killer," Thomas said. "My team needed me to score, my team needed me to make plays. They got me open, Coach put me in position to be successful, and I just took it from there."

In his three games back, Thomas is 28-for-51 from the floor, 12-for-21 from 3-point range (7-for-10 Tuesday) and has 93 points and 15 assists while going 25-for-26 from the foul line.

For the season, Thomas is averaging 26.6 points per game, seventh in the NBA.

He scored 19 of his 23 points in the final minutes to lead Boston to a 105-99 victory over the Pacers in Indianapolis Nov. 12.

While Thomas was lighting it up in Memphis Tuesday, the Pacers were losing to Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks to end their two-game winning streak and fall to 15-15.

"Carmelo got hot and made some tough shots," Pacers coach Nate McMillan said after Anthony went 7-for-11 from 3-point range and scored 35 points, as the Knicks overcame a 15-point second-half deficit. "When he wasn't scoring, (Derrick) Rose did a good job of taking over.

"You have to finish. If you don't finish, whether you are at home or on the road, you are not going to win ball games. It comes down to executing and making plays when you have to."

With Paul George sitting out the first meeting with Boston, Jeff Teague scored 20 points to lead the losing cause for the Pacers.

George scored 16 points in New York, but was just 6-for-16 from the field -- in a game that saw Anthony hit more 3-pointers than the six made by the Pacers on 23 attempts.

George was 1-for-8 from the floor in the second half, saying after the game, "It's frustrating. We just can't get the job done. Inconsistent team. That's all there is about this team. It's just an inconsistent team."