Shank On The Other Isiah Thomas

Celtics point guard Isiah Thomas recently scored 50 points in a game, so Shank suddenly has a need to pay some pro forma attention to the team. He talks to Celtics legend Bob Cousy about Isiah Thomas, and the result is a pretty good column.

There was a time when the Celtics’ best player was the smallest player on the floor. He scored 50 points in a single game. He was MVP of the NBA. He was Mr. Basketball. He basically invented the point guard position, his first Celtics column of the year.

Now he is 88 years old and he spends the winter in Florida and he hardly every misses a Celtics game on television.

Bob Cousy has seen all of the Celtics’ great guards. He played with Bill Sharman, Sam Jones, and John Havlicek. He coached Nate Archibald when Tiny became the only player in NBA history to lead the league in scoring (34.0) and assists (11.4) in the same season (1972-73 Kansas City-Omaha Kings). Cooz was a color commentator here when the Celtics had Dennis Johnson and later Paul Pierce.

Cousy is sold on Isaiah Thomas.