DENVER— Mike Malone is well versed on Isaiah Thomas’ game after having coached him in Sacramento.
Thomas can score a ton, but the player he coached in Sacramento isn’t quite the same player anymore.
He’s an All-Star now, capable of impacting games in more ways besides scoring.
That’s exactly what he did on Sunday in leading Boston to a 121-101 win over the Denver Nuggets.
Thomas finished with a double-double of 22 points and 12 assists, 10 of which came in the first half.
“All the pick and rolls, they were kind of doubling me, keeping two guys on me until I gave the ball up” Thomas said. “My job is to make the right play and I tried to read the defense and guys knocked down shots.”
One of those guys was Jared Sullinger who benefited from Malone and his players paying so much attention to Thomas.
Boston Celtics
“He understands his is going to come when me, Amir (Johnson), Jae (Crowder) … we make shots,” Sullinger said. “He’s doing a great job of understanding when to go and when not to go. We just feed off of that.”
Here are the Stars, Studs and Duds from Sunday’s game.
STARS
Isaiah Thomas
He delivered one of his best floor games of the season, tallying a double-double of 22 points and 12 assists while turning the ball over just three times.
Danilo Gallinari
Limiting his effectiveness was a chief concern of the Boston Celtics. Gallinari was a one basket away from meeting or exceeding his season average, but he still displayed a knack for generating offense from the free throw line which is where he scored seven of his 17 points.
Evan Turner
It was yet another all-around strong performance by Turner who once again found multiple ways to put his imprint on Sunday’s game. He finished with a near double-double of 17 points and nine rebounds in addition to five rebounds.
STUDS
Avery Bradley
He was a game-time decision due to a left knee injury he suffered at Utah on Friday, but you would not have known he was in any pain by the way he played. Bradley had 20 points on 8-for-15 shooting which included a trio of 3s.
Nikola Jokic
He led all scorers with 23 points and 13 rebounds, but you never felt at any point that he was dominating play. Fantasy league owners, he took care of you today. But in terms of meaningful production, he was OK; not great but OK.
Jared Sullinger
Sullinger tallied his 16th double-double this season with 16 points and 11 rebounds in addition to dishing out five assists. It was also his fourth straight game with double figure rebounds, a first for him this season.
Emmanuel Mudiay
The highly regarded rookie has had his problems shooting the ball, but it wasn’t a problem against the Celtics on Sunday. Mudiay had 18 points on 5-for-9 shooting to go with five rebounds and three assists.
DUDS
Will Barton
Will “The Thrill” Barton was anything but that on Sunday. He finished with just 10 points while missing 10 of his 12 shot attempts. One of the league’s best fourth quarter scorers, Burton had just five in the fourth – all coming from the free throw line. And to top it off, his plus/minus for the game was a woeful -23 which was worse than any player who saw action.
Kenneth Faried
A player known for his high-energy play, Faried was a non-factor in every sense of the word. He didn’t take a single shot and grabbed just one rebound in 13-plus minutes.