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Isaiah Thomas insists he did not curse at Dennis Schröder's mom

Dennis Schröder and Isaiah Thomas do not appear to be very close friends. (AP)
Dennis Schröder and Isaiah Thomas do not appear to be very close friends. (AP)

A beef that began broiling during the 2016 postseason started sizzling again this weekend, as the point guards of the Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics paired their on-court battle with an off-court war of words — or, more accurately, a war of words over which words actually got used in the on-court battle.

When the Hawks and Celtics tangled in the first round of last season’s Eastern Conference playoffs, Boston All-Star Isaiah Thomas and Atlanta’s Dennis Schröder — then a backup to top dog Jeff Teague — tangled during Game 3 at TD Garden. Thomas sent a surreptitious shot to the German’s head. Schröder retaliated by bumping Thomas to the floor as he attempted to cut around an off-ball screen. The two exchanged pleasantries and each received technical fouls for their role in the skirmish, with Thomas later received a retroactive flagrant foul-1 for his headshot before Atlanta eliminated the C’s in six games.

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More than eight months later, Thomas and Schröder renewed their acquaintance on Friday night in Georgia, with Schröder now entrenched as Atlanta’s No. 1 playmaker and Thomas well on his way to a second straight All-Star berth on the strength of a slew of remarkable offensive explosions. Schröder had an evening to forget, scoring four points on 2-for-11 shooting as backup Malcolm Delaney took the reins to lead the Hawks’ charge. Thomas, on the other hand, did what he does best, carrying Boston in the fourth quarter and sinking the dagger that handed the Celtics their 12th win in 15 games:

Thomas finished with a game-high 28 points, nine assists and four rebounds in 36 minutes, taking clear victories both on the scoreboard and in his head-to-head matchup with Schröder. After the game, though, Schröder suggested Thomas had crossed the line with his in-game trash talk, which he claimed went far beyond just Thomas telling the Philips Arena crowd that the Atlanta guard “ain’t nothing.” From Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Following the game, Schroder said the foul trouble got him out of rhythm. He was asked by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the trash talk with Thomas, including the third-quarter comments.

“I’m playing basketball,” Schroder said. “If he think that he got to curse at my mom or say some dumb stuff about my family, that has nothing to do with basketball. That’s his choice. I’ve got too much class for that. Next one, we are going to get it.”

Schroder’s comment was sent out on social media via Twitter by an AJC reporter.

Thomas responded to the comment hours later, specifically to the reporter, via Twitter in two posts.

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During the Celtics’ Sunday shootaround at their practice facility in Waltham, Mass., Thomas doubled down on his insistence that no negative talk about Schröder’s family passed his lips:

From Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe:

“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. “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 said he was stunned by Schroder’s accusations, which even caused Thomas’s mother to call him and admonish him for going that far.

“It’s disrespectful to my character because I don’t ever go there and my mom called me that night, too, and mad,” he 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.”

Brought up to speed on Thomas’ comments after contributing six points and six assists in the Hawks’ 111-98 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, Schröder said he’d moved past the incident:

Good to hear. Glad we can put that to bed. Now, to take a big sip from my glass of water and check Schröder’s Twitter account

Retweets may or may not equal endorsements. (Screencap via @DennisMike93)
Retweets may or may not equal endorsements. (Screencap via @DennisMike93)

One suspects Thomas, and the kelly-green-wearing faithful in the stands, will remember this when Schröder and the Hawks visit TD Garden on Feb. 27. Boston’s point guard says he doesn’t have any interest in speaking ill of the Hawk’s family. Let’s just say I’ll be interested to see whether Celtics fans elect to exercise similar restraint.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!