CELTICS DOMINATE KING, CAVS IN GAME 1
BOSTON — The assignment for Celtics forward Marcus Morris in his first start this postseason was easy to explain but nearly impossible to execute.
His job: Guard LeBron James, and keep the four-time NBA MVP from running the Celtics out of their own gym in the Eastern Conference finals for the second year in a row.
“He’s obviously the best player in the game,” said Morris, who during the week boasted that he was up to the challenge and on Sunday explained why he wanted it.
“Because I’m a competitor. He’s the best player, and I’m going to be able to tell my kids this one day.”
Morris scored 21 points and added 10 rebounds while pestering James into a playoffhigh seven turnovers — and a playoff-low 15 points — and the Celtics opened a 21-point, first-quarter lead to scorch Cleveland 108-83 in Game 1.
Jaylen Brown scored 23 points and Al Horford had 20 for Boston, which ran off 17 points in a row in the first and never allowed the Cavaliers within single digits again. The Celtics led by 28 when Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue pulled James for good with 7:09 left.
Game 2 is Tuesday night.
“I have zero level of concern at this stage,” said James, who was only 5-for-16 from the floor and missed all five 3-point attempts.
“I’ve been down before in the postseason, but for me there’s never any level of concern — no matter how bad I played tonight, with seven turnovers, how inefficient I was shooting the ball,” he said. “We have another opportunity to be better as a ball club coming in Tuesday night, and we’ll see what happens.”
Kevin Love had 17 points and eight rebounds, and James added nine assists and seven boards. The Cavaliers missed their first 14 3-point attempts of the game and shot just 32 percent in the first half.
By that time, Boston led 61-35 — the biggest halftime playoff deficit in James’ career.
The Rockets have been obsessed with Golden State for the past year. Starting Tuesday, the Rockets finally have the defending champs.
Since adding Kevin Durant, the Warriors have lost just three times in 27 playoff games. Houston will need to beat them four times out of seven to win this Western Conference final, one that looks and feels like a de facto NBA championship.
The obsession
While the rest of the NBA has been conceding to the Warriors, Houston has been chasing them. Others are content to wait the Warriors era out, but everything the Rockets have done is about knocking them off, bringing in players who can switch on the defensive end and hit 3s on the other.
General manager Daryl Morey didn’t just pull off the Chris Paul blockbuster to create a two-headed monster with James Harden. He added P.J. Tucker and Luc Mbah a Moute to boost assistant coach Jeff Bzdelik’s defense. And despite Harden’s disinterest on that end of the court, they’ve surrounded him with four solid defenders and jumped from 18th in defensive efficiency to sixth.
The style
Don’t be fooled by all the 3s, these teams couldn’t be more different. This series is the classic clash in styles, Golden State’s beautiful team passing against Houston’s hero-ball, featuring isolation after isolation.
Houston will slow the game, go iso and attack mismatches. The danger is ending up with too many ill-advised Harden fadeaways and step-back 3s instead of drives. Houston beat Minnesota and then Utah that way. But against Golden State the Rockets need Harden to suck in the defense, not suck the life out of his own team’s rhythm.
Harden is nearly unstoppable when he uses Clint Capela’s screens, largely why Houston was 50-5 when that duo and Paul all played.
The decision
Who does Golden State start, and how does Houston counter?
If the Warriors go Death Lineup with Draymond Green at center, that could leave Harden on Andre Iguodala and Tucker on Durant. If Golden State goes traditional with Kevon Looney at center, then who does Harden guard? Klay Thompson or Green?
On the other side, does Trevor Ariza get the unenviable task of guarding Durant? He has the experience, length, athleticism and defensive chops. He smothered Durant in their only meeting in the season opener.