Isaiah Thomas was a star tonight. Absolutely fantastic for a rookie pg to do what he is doing. Wait for a couple of years, for the chemistry to develop with Cousins, for the outside shooting to get even better, for learning the in's and out's of the NBA. This guy is a leader. A true point guard. Very high basketball IQ. A winner. As Henry Turner said in the posgame, he's a guy to build around for this team. People refer to him as another Bobby Jackson. No, he's better than Bobby. Bobby didn't have half this guy's passing skills. Bobby was an outstanding point a minute guy, but he couldn't make a team better like IT.
The only time the offense really slowed down in this game was when IT wasn't in there or when Smart had him inexplicably go stand in the corner. Go figure on that one. Smart continues to outsmart himself. I guess I should be happy he didn't take him out in the 4th and have Jimmer replace him.
The emergence of IT is going to change Tyreke's role in a big way. Whether Smart likes or not, he's got to put the ball in ITs hands as the "lead" guard, not Tyreke. I think that's obvious to even the slow learners out there. That means Tyeke is going to have to readjust his game to being a 2 guard, or a 3 sometimes, go out there and play the tough D, move without the ball, get the ball as a finisher most of the time. The dribble, dribble, dribble of Tyreke continues to not work. Smart has just started to recognize that and as time goes on he will recognize it more and more, designing an offense for a very creative point guard - Isaiah Thomas.