BOSTON - The wife of the late Reggie Lewis yesterday sued the team of cardiologists that cleared the Boston Celtics star to play after he collapsed during a playoff game.

Donna Harris-Lewis claims, in a suit filed in Suffolk Superior Court, that Dr. Gilbert Mudge Jr. and three associates were negligent in telling Lewis he could play without limitations after his collapse April 29, 1993, at Boston Garden.

Lewis died three months later, on July 27, 1993, after he was stricken a second time while shooting baskets with friends at a Brandeis University gym.

Harris-Lewis' suit, which seeks unspecified damages, claims Mudge failed to treat Lewis with the ''standard care and skill required of and ordinarily exercised by the average qualified physician.''

The suit also says Lewis ''experienced conscious pain and suffering prior to his death.''

Harris-Lewis could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Her attorney, Jeffrey Rossman, said by phone from his home that he could not comment on the complaint because he did not have it with him.

Mudge did not immediately return a phone message at the hospital. Mudge treated Lewis Brigham and Women's Hospital some time after his first collapse. Lewis originally was evaluated by team physicians at New England Baptist Hospital, but left and sought treatment from Mudge.

Yesterday, Brigham and Women's defended Mudge and his associates, Mark Creager and Peter Friedman of Brigham and Women's, and John Rutherford of Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

''We believe that when the facts in this case are fully reviewed in a court of law, it will be determined that the physicians acted in a responsible manner and in the best interests of Mr. Lewis,'' the statement read.

Hospital officials declined further comment.