Isaiah Thomas, who underwent major oral surgery Monday and Tuesday, shook off the after-effects to start Tuesday's Game 2 against the Wizards.
The Celtics All-Star point guard, who lost an upper-left front tooth early in Game 1 Sunday, missed practice Monday for a visit to the dentist's office, then had more work done Tuesday. Boston coach Brad Stevens said the Celtics star was still in pain Tuesday, but nevertheless played. He was fitted with custom-made protective mouthguards.
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"The tooth that was knocked out was not the only one that was affected. So he had some other issues there," Stevens told reporters before the game. "So he was in getting oral surgery [Monday]. A few hours after practice ended, he came by the office for a minute, but was still ... I don't know if he went back to the dentist's today or went to the hospital today just to work on it some more, but he's continued to have some work on it.
"He's good to go [in Game 2], but he's still in a pretty good deal of pain. He's got a swollen mouth. But they say that he's doing really well from a recovery standpoint, which is positive."
