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There were 75 eye-popping dunks during Sunday night’s All-Star Game in New Orleans.
Five-foot-nine Isaiah Thomas nearly had the loudest slam of them all.
At the 2:09 mark of the first quarter, just two and a half minutes after entering the game, Boston’s “Little Guy” sprinted up-court with no one in his path between him and the basket.
Rather than lay it in, like everyone in Smoothie King Center surely expected him to, Thomas, instead, bounced a high pass off the hardwood to himself and rose up toward the rafters to throw it down.
IT got high enough, slamming his hands down over the rim; the only problem was that the ball slipped off his fingertips and fell to the court.
Regardless of the missed attempt, Thomas shocked his Eastern Conference teammates with his vertical leap. LeBron James, DeMar DeRozan and others immediately rose off the bench, wide-eyed with surprise.
“He touched the rim. That’s all that matters,” Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry said after the game with an impressed laugh.
After the ball dropped to the court, IT gathered his own miss, trailed out to the left corner and redeemed the botched dunk by sinking a wide-open 3-pointer. However, Thomas couldn’t help but lament over the missed opportunity following the East’s 192-182 loss to the West.
“I got a chance,” said Thomas, who is the shortest player in NBA history to make multiple All-Star appearances. “I got an open fast break for the first time in a while and I just tried to put some flavor on it. And I ended up missing it.”
Fortunately, Thomas didn’t miss the basket much after that. The Celtic guard, in his second All-Star appearance, led all East reserves with 20 points during just 19 minutes of action off the bench.
Thomas’ 20-point effort more than doubled last year’s scoring effort when he tallied nine points during his All-Star debut.
IT was satisfied with his improved play during the highlight-heavy exhibition. The greatest reward for him, however, was getting to enjoy the experience with the Celtics coaching staff, which earned the right to coach this year’s All-Star game based on Boston’s regular season success thus far.
“It was special,” said Thomas. “It shows the direction this organization is going in. It was a special moment for those guys because they work just as hard as I do, maybe even more. I’m just glad they got to experience it.”
There may have not been much coaching involved for Stevens and his crew, since the All-Stars typically take control of the show themselves. As Stevens noted ahead of the game, he was merely a fan “with a good seat.”
However, the experience of just being among so many stars was what made the night so valuable for Stevens and his staff.
“The best thing about being a part of this is just being around all the high achievers,” said Stevens. “You feel that in the locker room; you hear the discussions. Obviously the game is not played at 100 percent full throttle, but just being around those guys and listening to their conversations, seeing what they’re like, seeing even how they prepared for tonight’s game, I think that that’s good.
“So it was great for our whole staff to share it, not only with each other, but with Isaiah as well.”
It was nice for Thomas, Stevens and the coaching staff to be able to get away from the regular season grind for the weekend, as they enjoyed a unique, All-Star experience together.
But now it’s back to business for the Celtics. Stevens, just moments after the final horn sounded, was already thinking ahead to Friday's game in Toronto.
“We got a couple of days and then the real world starts again,” said Stevens, whose Celtics are second in the East with a 37-20 record. “And that’s a little bit tougher.”