Monday, April 20, 2015

Isaiah Thomas reacts to Lou Williams Winning Sixth Man of the Year: 'Numbers don't lie'

Yahoo! Sports

Raptors guard Lou Williams won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award, while Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas, whose numbers were greater than Williams, finished in second place.

Thomas was asked about Williams winning the award at Celtics practice on Monday. Isaiah congratulated Williams for winning the award but clearly didn't agree with the outcome.

"Congrats to Lou Will," Thomas said. "I can't say too much about it. All I'm going to say is numbers don't lie. But congrats to him. He deserves it." [ESPN Boston]
Can't blame Thomas for feeling snubbed. Thomas did put up better numbers. But just like most NBA player awards; the candidate who plays for the better team won the award. The Toronto Raptors are the Atlantic Division champions. And even though Thomas has been the best player for the Celtics since the trade deadline, the Celtics are not a top seed in the Eastern Conference.

Numbers don't lie. Thomas makes a great point, his averages were greater than Williams'. Yet, Williams received 78 first-place votes and 502 points from a panel of 130 sports writers and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Thomas finished with 324 points, and only 33 first-place votes.

Isaiah averaged more points, assists, and rebounds than Williams. And he also shot a better percentage from the field throughout the regular season.


2014-15

Lou Williams: 15.5 PPG/ 2.1 APG/ 1.9 RPG (40% FG)
Isaiah Thomas: 16.4 PPG/ 4.2 APG/ 2.3 RPG (42% FG)


But Thomas also played more than half of the regular season as a member of the Phoenix Suns. The Suns finished the season with a losing record and missed the playoffs. If Thomas was a Celtic all season long his numbers would have probably been better. And if that happened, Thomas would have most likely been a lock for Sixth Man of the year.
"[Thomas is] definitely worthy of the award; he played great for us," Celtics forward Evan Turner said. "He was big time all season. Obviously, if he'd been around all season and we'd finished higher in the [standings], he probably for sure would have got it."
When asked if he thought that playing less than half a season with the Celtics may have hurt his chances in winning the award, Thomas had this to say:
"You could say that," Thomas said. "It had a lot to do with winning too. Since I got to Boston, things changed, we started winning, we got into the playoffs, so you're definitely going to hear about more individual success than when I was in Phoenix. I thought I did a pretty good job in Phoenix as well. But it is what it is. I can't control it. I just go out there and play and try to put myself in best position as possible."
It's not like he needs it, but this could motive Thomas to play even better in the first round of the playoffs. Thomas didn't look nervous at all in his playoff debut on Sunday against the Cleveland Cavaliers, he tallied up 22 points, 10 assists and 5 rebounds.



Josue Pavon 
Twitter: @Joe_Sway10

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