Thomas: Celtics 'chasing something bigger' than East No. 1

The Boston Celtics woke up Tuesday morning all alone atop the Eastern Conference for the first time since March of 2011, having surpassed the sputtering Cleveland Cavaliers in the standings.

With a far easier closing schedule, the Celtics have the inside track on holding off the Cavs for No. 1 - with a final, tiebreak-determining meeting between the two on tap for April 5 - but they're trying to focus on taking care of their own business, rather than scoreboard watching.

"It's definitely a nice feeling to be the No. 1 seed for once, but we just gotta continue to control what we can control," Isaiah Thomas told reporters on Tuesday.

Boston has done a fine job of that, winning eight of its past 10 games, including a road upset of the league-best Golden State Warriors and a crucial win over the conference rival Washington Wizards.

Still, LeBron James' teams have finished out of the top conference spot four times in the past six years, and still made the Finals each time. So the Celtics aren't exactly relishing the distinction as East No. 1, intent as they are on frying bigger fish come playoff time.

"Nobody's even brought it up," Thomas said of his team's new first-place perch. "Cause it's bigger than that. We're chasing something bigger than that. It's cool to have, but we know there's still time left in the season and anything can happen."