Isaiah Thomas: I don’t bring family into trash talk
Boston Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas says he did not curse at Dennis Schröder’s mother during Friday night’s game. In fact, Thomas insists he would never do anything of the sort.
Thomas, who took to Twitter after the game to defend himself, was asked about the alleged incident again on Sunday.
“Yeah, I don’t talk about nobody’s mom, I don’t cuss at nobody’s moms, and I don’t talk about people’s families,” he said, per Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. “So whatever [Schroder] said, that’s a 100 percent lie and he knows that. I always say, ‘Keep it hoop.’ When it comes to basketball, I talk about basketball and I’m doing to trash talk and I’m going to compete, I’m going to do whatever I can to make my team win a game.
“But I don’t bring parents in it. I don’t bring family. I don’t even know his mom to curse at her like he said I did or whatever he’s lying about. From this point on, I don’t even want to talk about Dennis Schroder because he’s not even on the level that I’m trying to be on. I’m not even focused on him anymore.”
Thomas hit a game-winning shot with 2.4 seconds left to lift Boston to victory over the Atlanta Hawks, and Schröder later told reporters that Thomas cursed at his mother in the stands and said “dumb stuff about my family.” Thomas took that as a personal attack on his character and said his own mother even called him because she was upset over the allegations.
“It’s disrespectful to my character because I don’t ever go there and my mom called me that night, too, and mad,” Thomas said. “She knows I don’t go there. Like I said, when it comes to basketball, it’s strictly basketball. It’s not about anybody’s family or anybody’s parents. I wouldn’t want them to do that to mine.”
Thomas and Schröder have a history with one another, as Thomas hit Schröder with a forearm during a playoff game last year (video here) but claimed it was not intentional. After the NBA opted to not suspend Thomas for the blow, Schröder said he felt “disrespected.”
The bad blood looks like it is going to remain for the time being.
