Boston’s better without IT4?

With a hip injury ending his post season, Isaiah Thomas was left to the sidelines and watch his Celtics team overcome a Cleveland squad with an un-LeBronesque performance from the game’s most dominant player.

Game 4 is today and if we base things on the other day’s game, Boston did better in the defensive rotation and ball movement. There was too much dependence on the 5-9 Thomas that when the defense collapses on him, he looks like a three-year-old kid sandwiched between his mom and dad. Him trying to create scoring opportunities against top quality interior defenders is wishful thinking.

The Celtics were a different team without IT4. Jonas Jerebko, a seldom used athletic and physical stretch four, found his way into the rotation and contributed big. Coach Brad Stevens must consider his value today with his length and agility.

Avery Bradley is a good defender and was largely responsible for LeBron’s anemic showing. The shooting guard plays tough and can be an effective stopper to Cleveland’s backcourt. Yes, he can score as shown during the last game. Likewise, Marcus Smart who will be the team’s starting point guard. At 64, the 23-year-old Smart stands a head above Thomas and thus won’t be a defensive liability.

We saw a different Celtics in Game 3. Where they used to hang around and watch Thomas dribble above the three-point area before deciding to shoot, they did their offensive sets quicker and had no defensive mismatches because the Boston crew on the floor were all above 6-3. They had to scramble help defense when guys twice as big collapses on Thomas.

So, is Boston better without him? One won game won’t decide the outcome of the series but it did show that the Celtics can move the ball better, defend better.

The playoffs is all about matchups and any personnel mismatches will be exploited. Sadly, they are not on the same level as Cleveland. At least Boston made the Eastern Conference Finals a wee bit interesting.

With the injury and a possible operation on his ailing hip, Thomas could be dealt elsewhere by the Celtics. They have the number pick in this year’s rookie draft and they could be getting Markelle Fultz, a 6-4 combo guard. It’s too early to tell but Fultz could be the cornerstone for a Boston rebuild. The Celtics will save on money considering a rookie contract to be within the $6 to 7million range for the first few years.

Compare that to Thomas who could get a max deal of $30million at the age of 30-plus years. It’s all about economics, value for money and trading IT4 could be logical.

We get excited with sub-six footers in the NBA but this is a league for giants and when teams decides to go small, it doesn’t mean to be standing below 6-4.

*** Finally, mercifully, the passion and agony of the San Antonio Spurs had ended. Congratulations to the Golden State Warriors for winning the Western Conference crown. I won’t be saying the victory was impressive because they went up against a severely depleted and overmatched team. The demolition was expected. I hope the league will institute something like what’s being done in combat sports where referees can stop matches when opponents are just going thru the motions of the game without even a chance of winning.