LeBron James is not worried about the series despite the opening defeat in Game 1 of the Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics. For him and the team, the task now is to analyse the game and draw the right conclusions.
“They had a great gameplan. We’ll analyze a lot tomorrow how they made us feel uncomfortable and couldn’t get into our rhythm for the whole game so we can improve it in Game 2,” James said after the game at the press conference.
According to James, the evil began right from the tip-off when the Celtics in the person of Jaylen Brown had their first points on the board after almost six seconds: “They set the tone directly from the tip-off. We gave away some litters, they hit their litters on the other side. Horford sunk an important three-pointer and committed his second foul early with an And-One Kev (Love). That’s how it all started.”
However, LeBron was not surprised by the very physical appearance of Celtics. “Physical basketball is part of the playoffs, it’s exactly what you expect. It’s part of the post season and already started in Game 1 of the Indiana series.”
When asked if he was worried about the series after the game, the king reacted calmly: “I’m not worried at all. I didn’t go to college, and this isn’t March Madness. You get better in the course of a series. I was already trailing 0-1 in the postseason, I was already trailing 0-2, but I’m not worried.”
James showed his weakest game of this year’s playoffs in Game 1, scoring only 15 points, seven rebounds and nine assists with 5/16 goals from the field and seven turnovers. However, the 33-year-old said that game 1 was always a “feel-out game” for him and added: “No matter how bad I played today with my seven turnovers or how inefficient I threw the ball – I always go confidently into a series, no matter whether it is 0-0 or we are trailing”.