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Sunday, May 21, 2017
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BOSTON – An NBA playoff-record, 41-point halftime lead. A franchise record for total points. A 13th consecutive playoff win, tying another league record.
And LeBron James says the Cleveland Cavaliers can still do better.
”I believe we’ve got another level, as well,” he said after Cleveland steamrolled the Boston Celtics with 130-86 on Friday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals. ”As well as we played tonight, we’ve got a couple of things we can do better. There’s no complacency for us now. But we like where we’re headed.”
Minutes after the NBA announced the three finalists for the MVP award – and James wasn’t among them – the Cavaliers star scored 30 points before resting in the fourth quarter.
Kyrie Irving had 23 points for the Cavaliers, who return home with a chance to finish off the Celtics in Cleveland. It would be the third straight sweep this postseason for the defending NBA champions, who also won the last three games of last year’s finals.
The Celtics played the second half without Isaiah Thomas, who had a strained right hip. Celtics coach Brad Stevens said the star point guard had a nagging injury that he aggravated a week ago during the second-round series against Washington.
Still, it was the worst home playoff loss ever for the most-decorated franchise in NBA history.
”It is embarrassing,” guard Avery Bradley said. ”As a man, as a basketball team, it will say a lot about us how we respond.”
The game tipped off about 15 minutes after the NBA announced that James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Kawhi Leonard were the finalists for the MVP award – the first time since 2008 that James won’t finish in the top three.
Lue chuckled when he found out after the game that James was not a finalist.
”You’ve got to give the award to different people every now and then,” Lue said. ”But to me, LeBron’s the MVP.” (AP)
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