After averaging 30.3 points and 5.9 assists last month, Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas was convinced he was deserving of NBA Player of the Month honors, telling reporters “I should definitely get that award.” He then lost the award to John Wall of the Washington Wizards.

Most PPG in Month Celtics History Paul Pierce 33.5 February 2006 Larry Bird 33.3 April 1987 Larry Bird 33.1 February 1988 Isaiah Thomas 32.9 January 2017 *Minimum 5 games

Thomas may have been dissatisfied with how others reviewed his December performance, but he followed it with an extraordinary January, one of the most amazing statistical months in Celtics history.

He finished it by scoring 41 points against the Detroit Pistons, including 24 in the fourth quarter. Thomas has four 40-point games in his past 21 games. He had none in the first 388 games of his career.

Thomas averaged 32.9 points per game for the month, the fourth-most in a calendar month with at least 10 games in Celtics history and the best Celtics scoring mark in the month of January. No other Celtics player has averaged even 30 points per game in January.

Thomas has scored at least 20 points in 32 straight games. The only Celtics player with a longer streak was John Havlicek, who had a 40-game run in 1971-72.

How he did it on Monday

Thomas scored at least 20 points in the fourth quarter for the fourth time this season. No other player in the NBA has more than one such game this season. Thomas currently leads the NBA in fourth-quarter scoring at 10.3 points per game.

Thomas shot 6-of-9 from the field in the fourth quarter after shooting 5-of-14 in the previous three quarters. He scored 11 of his 24 in the fourth on drives to the basket after totaling 10 points on drives in the first three.

Thomas did this against Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. He went 7-of-10 against Caldwell-Pope for the game, including 4-of-5 in the fourth quarter.

What did Thomas do differently?

The big difference for Thomas this month was in the volume of his 3-point attempts and makes. He took 139 in 14 games, making 60. He was averaging seven 3-point attempts this season entering January.

The 60 3-point makes were the most in a month in his career. His previous high was 39 in March 2013.

Thomas improved most on 3-pointers from the right wing, down to that corner. He entered the month shooting 37 percent on those shots this season but made 18-of-37 (49 percent) in January.

Thomas also excelled at the free throw line, shooting 94 percent (95-of-101), including 15-of-15 on Monday.

As Thomas’ scoring improved, you couldn’t say he was being selfish. Thomas averaged 6.9 assists for the month, up from 5.8 in December.