“I have some great teammates that are willing to make the open pass and I was just one of the guys in that situation to make them”, he added. “Anybody can do that”. Johnson needs to respect his opponent and focus his energy on actually stopping James and quit thinking that he is actually in James’ head. Detroit’s talkative coached was fined $25,000 by the National Basketball Association for criticizing what he felt was preferential treatment for James.
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With Harris drawing the attention of James on the offensive end, fellow frontcourt mate Marcus Morris briefly thrived, scoring 19 points in the first half of Game 1. James moved past Michael Jordan in postseason games played and into a tie with Dennis Johnson for 16th on the career list. Johnson called it a “cheap-ass shot”, and he wasn’t done talking about the future Hall of Famer. For mine, back at home the Pistons will win a game before this series it out – and it could be this one.
“There’s gonna be video here or video there”. There’s a video here, a video there – means absolutely nothing.
“I was open so I shot the ball. I thought it was good, and I thought that he understood and received it well”.
Van Gundy dismissed any talk of James using the provocative comments as fuel for Friday night’s Game 3, saying that such concerns would only conflict with James’ ultimate goal.
While small forward LeBron James struggled from the field in the third quarter, he got plenty of help from power forward Kevin Love, point guard Kyrie Irving and center Tristan Thompson.
Including the final shot of the half, James converted three of his five attempts in the second quarter on the way to a Cavaliers-best seven points.
J.R. Smith’s 3-pointer in the final minute of the third – his seventh of the game – extended the lead to 82-68 entering the fourth quarter and the Cavs coasted from there. Cleveland was led to the dominant win by James, who led the team with 27 points on 12 for 18 shooting. The most recent was the Golden State Warriors past year.
Mason Plumlee’s double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Damian Lillard’s 17 points were not enough to lift the Trail Blazers.
The Pistons, who have suffered 10 consecutive playoff defeats to the Cavs, were led by Andre Drummond’s 20 points on the road. Meanwhile Atlanta has taken advantage of a Game 1 hamstring injury to Avery Bradley to stifle a Celtics’ team now 0-6 in the postseason under coach Brad Stevens.
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The Pistons, though, wouldn’t buckle and were within 55-53 at halftime despite Drummond making just 3 of 12 free throws.
