At the end of Game 1 of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals in Boston, the Cleveland Cavaliers were on the winning end of a 117-104 contest against the Celtics.
This year, the underdog Celtics turned the tables on LeBron James and the Cavs and pulled off a 108-83 upset win in Game 1 of the 2018 ECF.
The key to the game was keeping the four-time NBA MVP under wraps and the Celtics were able to do just that by throwing a rotating set of defenders at King James, most notably power forward Marcus Morris.
Thanks to Morris and his teammates, James was held to a playoff-low 15 points and also committed a playoff-high seven turnovers in the loss. James also had a plus/minus rating of -32, tying a career-worst for the playoffs, before being pulled from the game for good with 7:09 left in the fourth quarter.
On the offensive end, Morris scored 21 points and added 10 rebounds for the Celtics while Jaylen Brown scored 23 points, Al Horford had 20 and Jayson Tatum chipped in 16.
Despite the loss, James said he isn’t worried.
“I have zero level of concern at this stage,” James said. “I didn’t go to college, so it’s not March Madness. 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 a level of concern, no matter how bad I played tonight.”
Game 2 is Tuesday night in Boston.
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