Thomas drops 53 on sister's birthday to lift Boston to 2-0 lead against Washington

Michael Dwyer/AP

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--Right on his sister's birthday, Isaiah Thomas pulled an epic performance.

Thomas scored a playoff career-high 53 points as the Boston Celtics turned back the Washington Wizards in overtime, 129-119, in Game 2 of their NBA Eastern Conference semifinal series at the TD Garden in Boston on Wednesday (Philippine Time).

Thomas took over in the final 17 minutes of the game, scoring 29 of his total points in the fourth quarter and the ensuing overtime session as Boston kept Washington from stealing homecourt edge and made sure it will have a 2-0 series lead in the league quarterfinals as all roads lead to the Verizon Center for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Monday (Philippine Time) respectively.

The Wizards opened the game on a roll, leading 42-29 after the first quarter and appeared to be holding off the Celtics the rest of the way until Thomas caught fire late.

Washington actually had a chance to win it regulation, but John Wall missed a jumper and Bradley Beal could not convert the follow-up as time expired.

Wall finished with 40 points and 13 assists for the Wizards.

It was yet another emotional game for Thomas, though, as he reminisced his sister Chyna, who was killed in a car accident right before the start of the playoffs. She would have been 23 already.

Still, he put up historic numbers as he scored the second-most points by a Celtic in a playoff game, just one short of John Havlicek's 54.

Utah 94 Golden State 106

In Oakland, Golden State opened its own NBA quarterfinal showdown with Utah on a high tone, taking a 106-94 win.

Despite star shooter Steph Curry only making one triple all game long, it was the Warriors' near-flawless play that helped them trample the Jazz as they dished out 32 assists while only committing a franchise playoff-low seven turnovers.

Curry still led Golden State with 22 points with seven rebounds, five assists, and one steal.

Kevin Durant and Draymond Green each chipped in 17 markers.

Rudy Gobert made 13 points to lead Utah in scoring in a game where Godron Hayward could only convert 4-of-15 field goals.

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