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原文網址：https://goo.gl/0yyGS3



It's an unseasonably warm late February day in Boston when Isaiah Thomas

strolls into the gym at Cambridge,MA's Ringe and Latin School rocking a

full Nike Tech Fleece sweatsuit and a pair of Air Max 90s. After showing off

the cover of a local Boston magazine he was featured on recently, Isaiah and

his agency rep joke, "We're leveling up today!" before he begins to change

into his Celtics road uniform and matching green-and-black Kobe A.D. sneakers.







As he's changing, a small crowd trickles in. First, a few members of the

school's faculty. Then, Officer Michael Daniliuk of the Cambridge PD enters,

hoping to get a minute to thank Isaiah for the charitable efforts he and his

wife Kayla made after a massive December fire displaced 125 East Cambridge

residents.


當他在換衣服的時候，人群慢慢進入了體育館。一開始是一些學校教師會的成員，然後

劍橋警察部門的Michael Daniliuk警官加入並希望能夠有機會感謝Isaiah和他的妻子

Kayla的慈善幫助，在十二月的大火讓東劍橋一百二十五戶居民無家可歸的時候。



Isaiah's face lights up as SLAM photographer Atiba Jefferson tells him stories

about working with Kobe Bryant. Meanwhile, students start to pop in to try and

sneak a pic for Snapchat. As the swarm grows, Thomas remains unfazed-nowadays,

crowds hoping to get a glimps of him are the nom.






He is a full-blown superstar. And he's earned it. He came into the NBA in

2011 waiting to become one of the best, and he's done just that.







"My job is to make people eat their words," he says after the shoot. "I'm a

guy who likes to speak things into existence. Whatever I say, I feel like I

can accomplish because I put work in. I'm not where I want to be. I'm headed

in the right direction, but I feel like I have so much more to show the

world."







Playing in his second full season with the Celtics, the 28-year-old is showing

the world plenty. He is averaging 29.1 ppg, third in the league behind only

Russel Westbrook and James Harden-and he's etching his name into Boston lore

right next to Larry Bird, Paul Pierce, Kevin McHale and more. He set a new Cs

record by scoring at least 20 points in 43 straight games and his 16 35-point

games are the most in a Celtics season since Bird was running around on the

old Garden's parquet. He also became just the sixth Celtic to score at least

2000 points in a season.





波士頓的地方傳奇裏，就在Larry Bird，Paul Pierce，Kevin McHale和一些人的旁邊。


他創下賽爾提克連續四十三場至少二十分的新紀錄，並且他單季16次35分的比賽也是從

Bird在場上奔跑以來賽爾提克隊史最多的，他也是賽爾提克第六個單季至少2000分的

球員。



On February 5, IT saw up close just how much the players mean to Celtics fans

when Pierce, now wrapping up his career with the Clippers, played his final

game in Boston. The Truth memorably ended the game by coming off the bench

and hitting a three-pointer-with Zeke playing some relaxed D-as the crowd went

wild.





放鬆了防守，他用一個充滿紀念性的三分結束比賽。



"I was glad I could be part of that moment and see how they embraced him,"

Thomas says. "The night before I was out to eat with Jamel Crawford and Paul

came into the same restaurant and sat down with us. He was telling me, 'If

you win here, there's no better feeling in the world because of these fans.'

The next day, seeing how they embraced him, that was an unbelievable moment.

And for him to hit the last shot and go out like that, you dream of things

like that."



「我很高興能夠參與這一刻，並看人們如何擁抱他，」Thomas說。「在今夜之前，我曾



方式走出球場，這會是你夢寐以求的。



Thomas' ascension to icon status with the Celtics was far from a sure thing

when he arrived. Isaiah himself was initially unsure how the move would work

out, especially after being traded first from Sacramento and then Phoenix

less than a year into his contract. After getting the call that he was being

sent out of PHX, Thomas was feeling down about playing for his third team in

two years. But the people around him-both basketball legends and current

players-knew this would be a career-changing move.







"I remember he was very down after the trade, and I talked to him an hour or

two hours after and I was just talking and telling him how exciting and life-

changing this would be for him," says Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, who has been

close with IT4 since his days at Washington. "I just thought the way he played

the game and the situation the Celtics were in at the time, it was a city and

a franchise that would love him and love the way that he plays. I thought it

was perfect."







And sure, in hindsight the situation seems perfect now, but not even his

closest friends expected things to take off this fast.



確實，當初的預測現在看來相當準確，但是就連他最親近的朋友都沒有預期事情會發展

的這麼快速。



"To be very honest, the first thing I told him was, You can make an All-Star

team over there," says his best friend and fellow Seattle-area native Jamal

Crawford. "I didn't expect 30 points a night. I didn't expect it this fast

and for him to be in the MVP conversation. I didn't expect all that. I did

expect him to be an All-Star. The next level, I did not see it coming this

fast."







Crawford and Thomas have a relationship that dates back to Isaiah's teenage

years. When IT was playing prep ball at South Kent (CT) School, Crawford was

playing for Knicks, and Thomas would frequently stay at Crawford's White

Plains, NY, apartment on weekends. For as long as he can remember, all Thomas

wanted to do was be an NBA player-and it was those weekends hanging out with

Jamal when he learned what it took to be a professional baller off the court.





有印象的時候，Thomas唯一想要的就是成為NBA球員，而也是在與Jamal過週末的時候，

他學會了成為一個專業的球員，在球場外需要做什麼。



"I would be at Jamal's house and see how he interacts with people and how he

goes about his days," Isaiah says now. "I wanted to be an NBA player, so my

whole thing was, I have to do everything I can. When I got older and got into

college and became pro, Jamal taught me how to be a pro, how to be profession-

al, how to come to work every day whether you're playing or not, how to treat

people who can't do anything for you."







As Crawford tells it, "When he was going to go [to South Kent], his parent

were a little hesitant-he was going across the country for the first time and

living along. I was with the Knicks, so I'm like, Don't worry, I'll make sure

he's good. Every weekend he didn't have school, he would come to my apartment,

stay with me and come to games, and I would go to his. I would be the only one

in the crowd. My wife and I would drive an hour, hour and a half to watch him

play and we'd be some of the only people in the crowd. Since he was 16, we've

talked every single day. I was a groomsman in his wedding, and he was a groom-

sman in mine. That's like my brother. It's deeper than basketball."







"He's like a big brother to me," Thomas adds of the elder Crawford, who just

turned 37. "Without him, there would be no me."



「對我來說他就像大哥一樣。」關於剛剛37歲的Crawford，「沒有他的話，就沒有現在

的我。」Thomas補上這一句。



The Wednesday night after our photo shoot, the Celtics welcome LeBron James

and the Cavs for a nationally televised game. The Celtics, at 39-22, are right

on the Cav's heels for the No. 1 seed in the East, and this is easily the

biggest game of the year at the Garden thus far. The crowd is a little bigger

than the one at Rindge and Latin, but Isaiah's cool and calm demeanor hasn't

changed during his pre-game rituals.







Over the next four quarters, with several members of the Super Bowl-winning

New England Patriots in the crowd, Isaiah flies arounf the court, zig-zagging

through defenders, tormenting whoever is stuck guarding him. When he's on the

bench for a breather, he rarely sits. Tiptoeing the out-of-bounds line with a

towel around his shoulders, Isaiah barks directions at his teammates like a

surrogate coach, always involved with the game. Cavs PG Kyrie Irving and

Thomas trade spectacular plays all game long.



在四節的時間裏，有一些超級杯新英格蘭愛國者的隊員在觀眾之中，Isaiah滿場奔跑，





When the camera pans to the crowd before the start of the fourth quarter, the

jumbotron shows young Celtic fans pointing to their weist, eagerly awaiting

the fourth quarter heriocs that IT has become known for. Everyone in the

building knows what time it is-except for Iman Shumpert, who goes under a

screen and leaves Thomas wide open for a go-ahead three with under a minute

left.







"I embrace fourth quaters," Thomas says. "My teammates and the staff look for

me to make plays and be that guy in the fouth, so I try to take adventage. At

the same time, when I'm in the gym by myself, that's what I'm working for. To

be in those moments and to be looked to as the guy when the game is on the

line to take and make the game-winning shot."







The Celtics withstand a monster 28-point, 13-rebound, 10-assist performance

from LeBron to win 103-99. Thomas finishes with 31 points, 5 assists, 2 boards

and 1 block. After the game, when a reporter suggests that the Cavs held him

in check for most of the game, Thomas quickly interrupts him: "Nobody holds me

in check."







The reporter tries again. "I average 30 points for a season," Thomas says.



記者有嘗試再說一次。「我一季的平均得分是三十分，」Thomas說。



Up close, it's stunning to think a player of Isaih's size and stature could

average 30 a night in a league of mammoth-sized men. Much like Allen Iverson

before him, Isaiah gets bumped when he tried to go over a screen, knocked to

the ground when he goes to the basket and bullied in the post when he goes up

against bigger opponents. But just like his friend Floyd Mayweather Jr, no

matter how hard he gets hit, he keeps coming.




It's a huge reason why legends of the game have lauded him. While tons of


ex-players in the media blast many of today's stars, Thomas seems to be

universally loved and respected by ballers of all ages. Over the past two

years, IT has gotten the chance to meet and talk with Allen Iverson and

Michael Jordan, both of whom are admitted fans. At All-Star Weekend in Toronto

two years ago, IT got a chance to sit down with Iverson, the start of a close

relationship.







"He said he was a real big fan of mine," Thomas says. "It didn't seem real.

You know, people say they're fans of you, but he was, like, emulating my moves

and telling me that he watches all of my games and that I'm cut from the same

cloth. We exchanged numbers and we've gotten closer. He'll text me after games

and be like, 'Man, that reminded me of myself.'







"He was one guy who, when I got to sit with him, changed everything, because

he's arguably the best pound-for-pound player to play, and I want to be right

behind him. To sit down with Allen Iverson and for him to tell me, 'You're a

real killa, just like me,' nobody can tell me anything anymore. He gave me

the OK to be me."







Then at this year's All-Star Weekend in New Orleans, MJ and IT flicked it up

for Instagram, and the GOAT passed along a few compliments.



接著是在紐奧良的全明星週末，MJ和IT在Instagram上傳了一張合照，GOAT留下了一些

稱讚的言論。



"[Jordan] actually told me, 'Keep doing your thing, and tke the night off when

you play the Hornets,'" Thomas says. "That means everything. For the best

player to ever play the game to watch what I'm doing, it says a lot."



「MJ真的跟我說，『持續專注在你正在做的，然後再對上黃蜂的時候給自己一個晚上的

假。』」Thomas說，「這代表一切，得到一個有史以來最頂尖的球員的關注。」



The love for Isaiah isn't limited to legends, either. His peers respect his

game immensely. Even LeBron called him a "clear-cut star" this season.



對於Isaiah的喜愛不只限於傳奇球星，同時期的球員也相當尊重他，甚至LeBron這季也

稱他為clear-cut star。



"I think he's embraced, first of all, because of his size," Crawdford says.

"Guys his size usually get weeded out in the NBA in general-they don't really

get a fair shot. His size and his heart, I think everyone sees that. Isaiah

is a true student of the game. He woeks on his craft. He knows the guys who

came before him, whether they were a star or not, and he respects those guys

and pays homage to them. I think the OGs of the game really take to that

because a lot of guys don't always pay respect like that."





Isaiah確實在比賽中是一個學習者，他做他該做的事情，他知道誰比他早進聯盟，不論

他們是否是球星，他會尊重他們並向他們表達敬意。」



Before Thomas dis for the day back at our school, the Rindge and Latin boys

and girls basketball teams come into the gym to take photos with Isaiah and

crack jokes with the local hero. At the time, the boy varsity team is riding

a 19-game winning streak into the playoffs, and their head coach asks IT to

say a few words to the team.







After being challenged to one-on-one games, Thomas gets real about the tough

transition from high school to college. He leaves them with a word of advice:

"Make the most of every opportunity."







Speak it into existence, indeed.



說到做到，毫無疑問。



＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿


IT真的有風格有態度，有點帥氣。

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