長得只有以賽亞-託馬斯這麼高的球員本來是沒辦法在NBA立足的，成為一名精英級別的得分手更是天方夜譚。一個身高不足178cm還能做到單賽季場均20分的球員已經20年沒有在NBA出現過了。想找到上一個以這樣的身高砍下場均25分的球員，你需要追溯到40年以前的「遠古時代」。歷史上從來沒有哪個這樣矮小的球員能做到場均30分，而如今的以賽亞-託馬斯每晚可以轟下驚人的29.5分——他可能創造歷史。
Players as short as Isaiah Thomas aren’t supposed to make it in the NBA, let alone be elite scorers. To find the last player who was 5-foot-10 or shorter and averaged 20 points per game in a single season, you have to go back 20 years.1 It’s been almost 40 years since someone that short averaged 25.2 No one that size has ever averaged 30, which Thomas — who is currently scoring 29.5 points a night — is threatening to do.
這樣一個身高劣勢如此巨大的球員想在長人如林的NBA立足，甚至進入全明星，需要擁有非常多超人的天賦。不僅如此，他的武器庫還必須擁有足夠多的武器。以賽亞-託馬斯這個175cm的凱爾特人球星從過去的兩個賽季開始利用一種特殊的方法來攻擊籃筐，成為了如今聯盟得分榜第二名的超級得分手：當有大個子球員鎮守禁區時，託馬斯利用籃筐作為掩護，以此躲避防守者的封蓋。
For someone who is much shorter than the best athletes in the world, an incredible amount of talent is necessary to succeed, especially at the all-star level that Thomas has. But there’s also a ton of skill involved, and the 5-foot-9 Celtics star has honed one tactic well over the past two seasons. Thomas, who is second in the league in points per game, has found a trick for avoiding the big men planted close to the basket: He’s become excellent at using the rim as a fence to stop defenders from blocking his close-range shots.
託馬斯（現今的聯盟突破王）會先來一個一個閃電突破，用速度將防守人甩在自己身後一步的距離，隨後殺入禁區，起跳上籃。但他並沒有從正面上籃，而是等自己滑翔到籃筐的另一側後上一個反籃。這樣做，防守人就無法幹擾到他了，因為他們被卡在了籃筐的另一側。
These plays usually start with the lightning-quick Thomas (who leads the NBA in drives per game) getting a step on his man. He then leaps for the shot but glides out to other side of the basket where the defender can’t realistically do anything to bother the attempt, since he’s still stuck on the other side.
根據NBA Savant注的數據顯示，這個28歲的小個子本賽季總共上了29次反籃，這佔到了他上籃總數的8%，這個比率和上賽季類似，但相比2014-15賽季卻整整翻了一倍。
註：NBA Savant是一個專門統計一些稀奇古怪數據和球員進攻方式的網站
The 28-year-old has gone to a reverse layup 29 times this season, for almost 8 percent of his layups — a rate similar to last season, but one that’s almost double what it was in 2014-15, according to NBA Savant, a site that tracks unusual statistics and the specific sorts of shots players take.
這個「小花招」在一定程度上解釋了小託馬斯在過去兩個賽季能夠如此頻繁地攻框的原因。從2015-16賽季開始，小託馬斯33%的出手都來自於籃下三尺以內，比過去的四個賽季高出了11%。而且他的籃下命中率非常高，接近60%。
The sleight of hand at least partially explains how Thomas has been able to get to the basket so much more often over the past two seasons. Since the start of the 2015-16 campaign, a whopping 33 percent of Thomas’s field-goal attempts have come from within 3 feet, up from just 22 percent over the four seasons before that. He’s converting those attempts nearly 60 percent of the time.
為了彌補自己在身高上的不足，託馬斯從自己背包裡掏出的新武器可不止這一個。他現在也成功地使用了一種叫做「你看見我了，你又看不見我了」的小技巧：他在罰球線附近做一個半轉身的動作，然後趁著防守者晃神的那一剎那，一個加速過掉防守者後向籃下發起進攻。
This isn’t the only move that Thomas has pulled out of his bag to compensate for his size. He’s also been successful with a now-you-see-me, now-you-don’t sort of half-spin at the perimeter, where he essentially lulls his defender to sleep for just enough time to blow past him for a shot at the rim.
無論這些反手上籃看上去多麼帥氣，這個技巧，包括另外那個讓自己更容易接近籃筐的擺脫手段，實際都是小託馬斯為了在NBA生存做出的努力。身處於NBA中的託馬斯，就好比國家地理雜誌拍攝的記錄片中的那些弱小的動物，需要奮力抵擋那些強大的捕食者們發起的的進攻。在進攻內線時，託馬斯並不是每一次都能躲開大個子的封堵，他仍然是聯盟中被帽次數最多的球員。但上反籃無疑增加了他的上籃選擇，在一定程度上減少了自己被帽的次數。
No matter how pretty the reverse move looks at times, the display — and other ones that get him close-range looks — is more about survival at the basket. Think of Thomas as the star of one of those National Geographic films that shows a weaker animal trying to fend off much bigger predators. Thomas isn’t always able to scamper away from the bigger players who are hunting him while he’s en route to the basket: He still gets rejected morethan any player in the league. But using the reverse has added an extra layer of sophistication to his finishes, likely stopping opponents from being able to block even more of his shots than they already do.
根據NBA Savant的數據顯示，這個賽季託馬斯上籃被帽的比率已經不足10%了，是他的職業生涯新低。這個數據相比上個賽季的13%是有所下降的，而在2014-15賽季，這個數字則是15%。
Less than 10 percent of Thomas’s layups have been blocked this season, the lowest rate of his career. That number also represents a considerable drop from last season, when 13 percent of his close-range looks got swatted and the 2014-15 season, when 15 percent of his layups got stoned, according to NBA Savant.
換句話說，沒錯，小託馬斯是聯盟被帽王，但那些大個子球員可千萬別小瞧他在籃下的創造力，不然這個小個子得分機器會教你什麼叫做瘋狂。
So in other words, yes: Thomas gets blocked more than anyone in the NBA. But that doesn’t mean other vertically challenged players shouldn’t look up to him and his ingenuity around the rim. It’s helped turn him into the scoring machine he is today.