Bereft of his leading scorer, no one would have blamed Celtics coach Brad Stevens for getting swept out of the Eastern Conference Finals. Instead, Stevens and his team achieved a stunning Game 3 win, and led at halftime in Game 4. It was not exactly the straightforward playoff exit that was foreseen.
The Cavs have taken notice of Stevens’ ability to make effective adjustments. Following Game 4, LeBron James was asked about the difference in the Celtics with Isaiah Thomas vs. without him. His answer was complementary of Stevens:
Yeah, like I say, we game planned — because their series went to [Game] 7 we game planned for both teams, and they’re a different team when IT is — I won’t say a different team, they run different things just because of IT being a huge piece of the puzzle for them offensively.