The Point Is, Isiah Thomas Takes Charge

Quick now, who are the great quarterbacks in the game today? Joe Montana, you say? Dan Marino? Boomer Esiason? Bernie Kosar? Randall Cunningham?

Well, I’ve got a quarterback who can make those look scatter-armed. He never throws an interception. He’s got a completion record that could make Terry Bradshaw sit down and have a good cry. He’s got the peripheral vision of a shark. If you think Fran Tarkenton was hard to contain, you should see this guy. He not only makes the ball disappear, he does, too.

Who is this remarkable phenom, you ask, and why isn’t he in the shotgun for Dallas?

Well, how about Isiah Thomas?

Wait just a minute, you say. Isiah Thomas isn’t a quarterback, he’s a point guard.

Oh, yeah? Well, watch him now as he comes up the floor of the Forum against the Lakers.

First of all, he’s got the ball. A good quarterback has to have the ball and Isiah Thomas always has the ball. He seems to come with it attached.

He brings it up with this kind of bemused look on his face. He kind of glides, slips, wheels from side to side. He dribbles it right into the feet of guys a foot taller than he is. If they over-play him, he’s gone. Fran Tarkenton never spurted past Deacon Jones any niftier.

He gets the beginning of this little grin around his mouth. He’s wary, crafty, probing for an opening. He’s looking for the open man. Every good quarterback does that.

When he finds one, he whistles this deadly accurate pass to him, usually right under the basket. A good quarterback in the NFL completes 55% of his passes. Thomas’ percentage is more like 100.

If no one is open, he bounces the ball once, twice, pumps, fakes--and then soars in the air to pop in a basket himself. This quarterback leads the team in scoring, too.

“You don’t dare leave him alone,” sighs opponent Magic Johnson. “Give him room, he shoots. No matter where he is.”

Last year, he popped in 38 three-point baskets, most on the team and well over a third of those he tried. He is as dangerous as Wyatt Earp. He shoots off balance, on balance, at mid-court, under the basket. Last year, he threw in 25 points in a single quarter against the Lakers in the sixth game of the finals. He once scored 16 points in a minute and a half when the Knicks sagged off him.

He is ubiquitous. Find the ball and you find Isiah. It is the opinion of some coaches around the league that there are two of him. They swear that, some night, he’s going to get an assist and a basket on the same play.

He led the world in assists one season with 1,123, a record since broken by Utah’s John Stockton. He still had a 21.2-point scoring average for that year. He is unselfish. A quarterback’s job is to win games, not trophies.

It is a rule of thumb in football that you can’t get to the Super Bowl without a Grade A quarterback. It is a rule of thumb in basketball that you don’t get to the playoff finals without a dominating center.

The Detroit Pistons get there because they have Isiah Thomas. The league is lucky he’s not paired up with Patrick Ewing or the season might be a foregone conclusion.

The Pistons are not a blow-you-out-of-there team. They rely on trapping (double-team) defenses, quickness and resourcefulness. They jab you to death, beat you on points, win on a split decision. They give a party when they score more than 100 points. But so does the team they play. You think something is wrong with the scoreboard when the Pistons play.

I always thought Oscar Robertson was the best quarterback, or floor general, I ever saw on a basketball court. Oscar was like a traffic cop out there. But Isiah Thomas can do most of the things Oscar could do. And remain less visible.

But the point is, Isiah Thomas not only can do things Oscar Robertson could do but the things John Elway could, too--take your team to the championship finals on the strength of your arm and the elusiveness of your feet. The Raiders should be so lucky.