The Cleveland Cavaliers’ Isaiah Thomas was so surprised to see Channing Frye make a rare follow-up dunk that he thought it was Jeff Green who made the play. It’s hard to fault Thomas on this one as Green is the younger and more athletic of the two Cavs players.
The exciting play came in the second quarter of their game versus the Detroit Pistons Sunday night. Thomas took a 3-pointer with the Cavs down by three and missed. Suddenly, a high-flying figure in wine-and-gold uniform came swooping in for the two-handed putback jam. As the smoke cleared, that man was no less than the veteran Frye.
Thomas complimented his teammate later in the game.
“I didn’t know who that was. A jump like that I thought it was Jeff Green and for him to come out of nowhere, that was big. We had Channing with the putback dunk, we had Kyle [Korver] with the off-the-dribble move to the basket. A lot was working for us. That was fun to see guys getting up and enjoying the game and just having fun together.”
When asked whether he changed his approach in this contest compared to his previous ones with the Cavs, Thomas joked at the beginning that he did change his game, but then explained that he didn’t.
“Yeah, I changed it ‘coz I was mad at my shot selection. No, I just made the right play that’s all I did. I tried to get in the paint, be aggressive, guys made shots. I mean that’s just how I play. If there’s two guys on me, I just try to find the open guy each and every time. Nine times out of ten I try to make the right play whether that’s getting the ball to a teammate or me scoring. And the guys [were] knocking down shots so they helped me out today.”
The Cavs won against the Pistons 121-104 in the end with Thomas contributing 14 points and seven assists to their cause. Frye, on the other hand, finished with seven points and seven rebounds — highlighted by a rebound and two points courtesy of that exhilarating follow-up slam.
