LeBron James said he was unconcerned after the Celtics beat up Cleveland 108-83 Sunday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
James is confident he and the Cavs will perform a lot better against Boston’s hounding defense in Game 2.
LeBron James gives Celtics credit for their scheme, says he knows how Cavs can improve @khightower https://t.co/Ob80XOETFb
— AP Sports (@AP_Sports) May 14, 2018
The C’s held LeBron to 15 points and caused him to turn the ball over seven times.
Per the AP:
“I have zero level of concern at this stage,” James said. “I didn’t go to college, so it’s not March Madness. You know, you get better throughout the series. You see ways you can get better throughout the series. But I’ve been down 0-1, I’ve been down 0-2, I’ve been down before in the postseason.
“But for me, there’s never no level of concern, no matter how bad I played tonight with seven turnovers, how inefficient I was shooting the ball. We have another opportunity to be better as a ballclub come Tuesday night and we’ll see what happens.”
James said the Celtics deserved credit for the defensive strategy they employed against him, which started with Marcus Morris challenging him from outset, limiting him to 2-of-6 shooting in the first quarter as Cleveland fell into a 36-18 hole.
“I think they had a great game plan in Game 1, and he was the start of it,” James said. “He was my matchup and I think they did a great job of communicating throughout the whole game, knowing where I was and all of my teammates was. (Celtics coach) Brad (Stevens) did a great job. We have an opportunity to look at some film tomorrow and see ways they was making us uncomfortable.”
