Every one of them said, ‘Hell no, he’s going for the money.’ I’ve never asked him this question.
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All of what happened (and what was said) before – from both the Celtics and Morris – might not matter at all. “Circumstances are a little different now”. Despite what most people think, Houston had the sixth best defensive efficiency rating in the league this year at 103.8.
Since waking up from some odd malais midway through his first-round series against the Pacers, James has looked revitalized, and is playing with the ferocity, tenacity and confidence that makes him the most risky player in the game, and one of the greatest to ever step onto a court.
Irving will watch this year’s rematch from the sideline after a pair of knee surgeries late in the regular season denied him an opportunity to play this postseason. He’s also guided Boston to four straight playoff berths and two Eastern finals. “We have to do a job of containing him as best as we can, and get the game to go the way we want it to go”. None of those games were close as the Cavs won on the road by an average of 30 points.
During his last 11 regular season and playoff games against a team which had Marcus Morris, James has averaged 21.1 points per game while shooting just 16.3 percent from 3-point range, and he did not reach 30 points in any of those matchups either. One of the more versatile defenders in the NBA, Tucker will likely draw a slew of defensive assignments in this series. The league’s best player should be at his best Sunday afternoon. “Just trying to add onto it while I can”. “Certainly I’ll pick Kyrie’s brain on not only him but the other guys around him”.
Here is how you should be able to tell.
Morris suggested the Toronto Raptors didn’t offer much resistance during Cleveland’s Round 2 sweep. With as much respect as we have for IN, obviously, they took us to seven, I think defensively Boston is elite. “[James] looked very confident”. “And there was no help. I just think you gotta try things and kinda see how your team reacts to it”. I think there’s a lot that everybody knows that makes LeBron so great.
The Rockets, on the other hand, much like Cleveland, rely a lot more on the unbelievable one-on-one playmaking ability of James Harden, and to a lesser extent, Chris Paul.
Nobody would ever accuse Marcus Morris of being bashful. I think both teams will be doing a lot of switching on defense due to their players’ versatility.
The Celtics acquired Morris from the Pistons this summer in a deal where the team sent out Avery Bradley.
“That’s one of the things [Celtics GM/president of basketball operations Danny Ainge] said when I first got here, that I was one of the guys they felt as though could guard LeBron”, said Morris. If you’re not green, they don’t really, they don’t mess with you. But that’s the impression I get.
While noting that Stevens is a great coach, James said Friday that he finds the praise of the Celtics boss to be somewhat overblown.
“We talked about it prior to the playoffs, nobody should love a challenge more, nobody should have more fun doing it”, said Stevens. Against a guy like LeBron, it’s the team.
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Whatever happens, LeBron has been a force of nature throughout a hard stint for his side, following the departure of Irving to the Celtics last summer in the wake of a pretty time finals loss to the Golden State Warriors.
