LeBron James — scoreless in the final 16 minutes of Sunday’s Game 3 loss to the Celtics — looks to rebound tonight.
Cavaliers star avoids media following his disappearing act during Game 3 loss to Boston
INDEPENDENCE, OHIO— LeBron James was out of sight, staying behind the scenes, keeping a low profile. Just as he did in Game 3. James did not address the media Monday, hours after one of the worst post-season games of his career, an 11-point, six-turnover, head-scratching atrocity in a 111-108 loss against the Boston Celtics that — for the time being — has made the Eastern Conference final interesting.
As is always the case with Cleveland’s superstar, the poor performance prompted the usual speculation and suspicion: Is he hurt? Was he sending a message to his teammates? What in the name of Red Auerbach happened?
“It was a weird game,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. “A weird-feeling game.”
And it was an uncharacteristically passive performance by James, who had scored at least 30 in eight consecutive games and imposed his will on the overmatched Celtics in the series’ first two games.
Incredibly, he went scoreless over the final 16 minutes.
James accepted responsibility afterward, saying simply “I didn’t have it” during a postgame news conference that was preceded by a run-in with a heckling fan in the hallway.
If James’ play wasn’t stunning enough, Cavs guard J.R. Smith said his teammate lacked confidence.
“He’s got to be aggressive, get downhill, play like he’s been playing, play confident,” Smith said. “That’s what I always think, when people of his stature or people like him, you’ve got to play confident the whole night and play aggressive. It’s the Eastern Conference finals. It’s not enough for him. For what he does, what he brings, it’s not enough.
“He knows that. We know that. Just expect him to be better in Game 4.”
The series resumes Tuesday at Quicken Loans Arena before returning to Boston on Thursday for a Game 5 that didn’t appear necessary until the Celtics stormed back from 21 down and won when Avery Bradley’s three-pointer danced an Irish jig on the rim before falling with 0.01 seconds left.
It was Boston’s first outing since star guard Isaiah Thomas was shut down with a hip injury.
Boston’s comeback was fuelled by Thomas’ replacement, Marcus Smart, who made 7 of 10 three-point shots and scored 27 points. The Cavs chose to go under screens, giving Smart room to shoot and he burned them badly.
“Marcus Smart made 15 out of 77 off-the-dribble threes this year,” Lue said, defending his defensive plan on Smart. “He made some last night.” As Lue spoke to reporters and some Cavs players got in extra shots following practice, James was absent from the floor. Usually, he hangs around to work on his game.
“No blame. We’re all to blame,” Lue said. “We lost; it happens. For a guy who played great for five straight months, he’s got to have a bad game sooner or later. He’s human. He didn’t shoot the ball well. It wasn’t his ordinary game. But Kevin (Love) and Kyrie (Irving) had it going early and they played well, so it kind of got him out of rhythm a little bit in that first half.
“That’s no excuse. They played well, but we’ve just got to play better, be more physical.”