Cleveland Cavaliers won their first match in a new line-up against the Boston Celtics with 121:99. Afterwards LeBron James was impressed by his new team.
“That was a good start. It almost felt like the newcomers have been with us for a long time,”James said happily about the good performance of his team. In particular, the cavs showed a strong improvement in defensiveness.
“It all started with George[Hill] and the pressure he put on the ball, and with his calm in the offense,”James praised his new point guard, who scored 12 points.”And then the other three guys came from the bank. Jordan[Clarkson] is always ready to hang up points, but his focus was great. Rodney {Hood] and Larry[Nance] did fine, too. That was a good start for all of us.”
Last Thursday, the Cavs had sent a total of six players away in three separate trades and got the quartet concerned back. The start couldn’t have been better. In the meantime, Cleveland led in Boston with 29 points and in the second half, Celtics did not stand a chance.
“I love playing with people who want to play and work hard,”said James,”I know I demand a lot of excellence from my fellow players, but I also demand it from myself. And especially abroad, we want to present ourselves from our best side and put ourselves in a position to play once again for the championship. And I know that the boys who are here now want to seize this opportunity.”
The Cavaliers once again avoided going up against the retired players, as James had already announced on Saturday. Dahntay Jones, who was part of the team in last year’s playoffs, wrote in Twitter:”The difference between selfish and selfless players.”