A chance encounter with Isaiah Thomas has ensured that Robbie McNulty enters high school beaming with Celtic pride.
McNulty, 14, had the pleasure of shooting baskets with Thomas on Tuesday night at a basketball court in Cambridge, Mass., according to The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach. And this was no pre-arranged pickup game.
Thomas was walking near the court with his wife when he spotted McNulty shooting hoops by himself. The Boston Celtics point guard wasn’t too bashful to ask McNulty if he could crash his shootaround.
“He was the only kid there,” Thomas said. “So I’m like, ‘I’m just going to go get some shots up with him.’ When I walked over, he rebounded his own shot and turned around and I’m like, ‘Can I get a couple shots?’ And he stopped. He didn’t even say a word, like his eyes were so big. He just stopped and froze and I’m like, ‘Pass me the ball.’ ”
We can’t fault McNulty, a die-hard Celtics fan who had completed his first day of high school earlier in the day, for being a little starstruck.
“I was kind of just like dribbling with my mouth open and looking at him, maybe waiting for him to say something,” McNulty said. “He was like, ‘Can I shoot with you? And I’m thinking, ‘Can I shoot with you? Is this actually Isaiah Thomas?’”
Thomas and McNulty played “shots and layups” (you know the game) and made small talk for around 10 minutes. Then Thomas posed for a photo and left.
McNulty told his mother and his friends about meeting Thomas, but they didn’t believe him initially.
But Snapchat and Instagram have conquered much of the free world for moments just like this.
We bet that’s the last time McNulty’s friends will leave him to shoot hoops by himself on a rainy weekday night.
Thumbnail photo via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images
