LeBron James Has Gotten Off To An Insane Start vs

I’m not going to lose sleep over it. “He’s tremendously talented, but as you said, tremendously bright as well”.

At times during the 76ers’ now concluded playoff run, they looked lost, and that’s understandable.

Kevin Love finished with 22 points and 15 rebounds for Cleveland. Thompson got Cleveland’s first basket of the night and helped to limit Horford’s effectiveness on the inside early on. Cleveland waved the white flag and emptied its bench after that.

Tempers flared with 3:49 to play with Boston leading 97-89.

Marcus Morris continued to be a great source of energy for the Celtics, who had 12 points and rebounds. Smart and Smith exchanged shoves and had to be separated, with each player being whistled for a technical foul. “We have each other’s backs. He’s our rock. He’s the guy we really, really lean on”.

Smith said there was no malicious intent on the play. These were accompanied by just nine turnovers, well down on the 12.3 they’ve averaged throughout the playoffs so far. However, King James is not too concerned about his poor showing in Game 1 or the fact that the Cavs are now 1-0 down. They were also the last side to hand a James team three straight losses in the East. The Celtics can’t afford to leave Rozier on an island in those situations, meaning there’s an opening on the weakside that James has the vision to locate. He turned the ball over the Cavs’ first possession.

The Celtics forced James to work harder defensively and rotated several players on the 4-time NBA Most Valuable Player to contain him offensively.

That in turn kept James from creating shots for his teammates. Realistically, keeping LeBron below 30 points and ten assists would be considered a win, so to keep him to 31.3% shooting and a almost identical assist to turnover ratio while dropping 21 efficient points of his own was an unbelievable effort.

The Celtics trailed by seven, 55-48, after a sluggish start in the first half, but came out of the locker room on fire. They haven’t been favored in any playoff series they’ve been in this year.

Boston’s ball movement – This was a feature of the Celtics game in Game 1. I imagine it’ll be a lot like Game 2 against Indiana. “But at the same time, we can’t rely on that”.

Boston also outscored Cleveland 60-38 in the paint.

The Celtics are one-point sportsbook favorites, with the over-under for total points scored set at 202.5. “We didn’t play well”.

“I think as a team, 1 through 5, we gotta all play tougher”, Thompson said.

‘They rebounded it, and we came back on the defensive end, ‘ he continued. “(Cleveland is) here for a reason, because of the talent that they have.

“Our confidence level is very high”, said Morris, who recorded the first postseason double-double of his career.

But that’s history, and this edition of the proud franchise is clearly more about the present. His most ridiculous shot was a turnaround, fallaway 3-pointer with Marcus Smart draped all over him that literally had courtside fans laughing in disbelief. Our job was to keep going.