Isaiah Thomas is apparently going to dominate 4th quarters forever

There’s a point at which the surprising becomes a new normal, and we’re rapidly reaching it when it comes to the fourth-quarter scoring output of Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas. The diminutive All-Star is putting up late-game point totals that lap the field and could stand as the most impressive on record. Every new game seems to bring a new clutch turn from Thomas. It’s just what he does now.

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Wednesday night’s visit from the Toronto Raptors was no different. Thomas scored 19 points (6-of-10 FG, 2-of-5 3FG, 5-of-5 FT) in the fourth to finish with 44 on the night as the Celtics finished off a 109-104 comeback win over the Raptors. It was Thomas’s 10th fourth quarter this season with at least 15 points and would have been his fifth with at least 20 if he’d scored another point.

Again, this is just what Thomas does now. This fourth quarter wasn’t even his most prolific of the young week — he scored 24 against the Detroit Pistons on Monday to lead the Celtics to another narrow win. Thomas is undoubtedly fun to watch, especially at just 5-9, and his status as the last pick of the 2011 draft makes him a started-from-the-bottom success story. However, he’s no longer playing like a plucky underdog. Thomas straight-up dominates the opponent when the game is on the line.

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He’s not half-bad before the fourth quarter, either. Thomas gets the most attention for what he does late in games, but it’s important to note that he entered the fourth on Wednesday with 25 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field. On a very basic level, Thomas is just really, really good. His fourth-quarter scoring numbers are high enough to read like outliers, but a guy doesn’t score 40 points in consecutive games by accident. His excellence is no fluke. He’s good enough that an overexcited reporter thought it reasonable enough to compare him to two all-time greats.

Still, the Celtics needed more than Thomas to win on Wednesday. The Raptors looked set for a very impressive road win up 72-55 just inside of the 9:00 mark of the third, but the Celtics managed to cut that margin to just eight points by the end of the fourth. Thomas ended up the hero in the final period, but it looked for a time as if Toronto point guard Kyle Lowry had just as good a chance of grabbing headlines. He put up 12 of his 32 points in fourth and went shot-for-shot with Thomas for several minutes in crunch time.

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Yet he and the Raptors could not make enough big plays late to win. Toronto would have had a chance to win or force overtime in the final 15 seconds, but guard Marcus Smart grabbed a huge offensive rebound off a Jae Crowder miss and then held on during a scrum that forced a jump ball. Smart then out-leaped Norman Powell to make a perfect tip to Thomas, who made two free throws to put the game out of reach.

The Celtics’ victory was extra meaningful for its impact on the East standings. At 31-18, they now hold a 1 1/2-game lead over the 30-20 Raptors and sit just 2 1/2 games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers for the best record in the conference. It also looks increasingly likely that head coach Brad Stevens will coach Thomas and the other Eastern Conference All-Stars on February 19 in New Orleans. (Coaches cannot do so in two consecutive seasons, so Cavs boss Tyronn Lue is out of the running.)

Indeed, Thomas and the Celtics look increasingly for real. Whether that makes them a serious challenger to make the NBA Finals remains in doubt, but they’re at least more than a nice story.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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