The Boston Celtics – Cleveland Cavaliers Eastern Conference Finals matchup had the key question of if Boston had anyone who could stop LeBron James, and the answer in Wednesday’s Game One was a clear “Nope.” James did pretty much what he wanted all night in a relatively-easy 117-104 win for the Cavs, finishing with 38 points (on 14-of-24 shooting), nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals. Oh, and he posted one embarrassing highlight after another, and then said afterwards he wasn’t feeling his best. Oh, really? It’s impressive that someone not at his best was able to post all these highlights, like, say, dribbling through his legs three times before driving for an easy layup against Kelly Olynyk:
https://twitter.com/TheNBACentral/status/865015030772674561
Or how about this drawing of a double team, then throwing a beautiful bounce pass to an unguarded Tristan Thompson for a dunk?
https://twitter.com/SInow/status/865033649913294849
Or more through-the-legs dribbling before this drive and fadeaway jumper:
LeBron has been unreal tonight. pic.twitter.com/4OlYeK8rv8
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) May 18, 2017
Or this defensive play against Isaiah Thomas:
This one didn’t go in, but it illustrated how woefully mismatched the 5’9”, 185-pound Thomas was trying to guard the 6’8”, 250-pound James:
You win some, you lose some https://t.co/gl3Wj9o6aU
— The Ringer (@ringer) May 18, 2017
Let’s get a closer look at that:
And closer still:
If LeBron can't go around you, he'll go through you. pic.twitter.com/d11yGXpTHH
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 18, 2017
Yeah, that didn’t go well for Thomas at all. And this game didn’t go well at all for the Celtics. Oh, and maybe the worst part? James said afterwards he didn’t feel good thanks to the long layoff (0:40):
“It was definitely a feel-out game. We kind of know what they want to get to, they kind of know what we want to get to. But, after ten days off, I didn’t feel all that great. But I know I’ll feel a lot better going into Game Two. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
If James continues to play like that (or even better if he’s feeling better), and if the Celtics don’t have any further answers for him, they may not be looking forward to the next game.
