CLEVELAND -- Well, that ought to put an end to the notion that the Boston Celtics are a better team without All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas.
For much of the first half of Tuesday's Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, it might have been OK to simply ponder that suggestion. After all, the Thomas-less Celtics had rallied from 21 down for an improbable Game 3 victory two nights earlier and Boston might have played its best basketball of the series over the first 18 minutes of Game 4.