Morris walks the walk
After he talks a good game, delivers on ‘D’
CELTICS NOTEBOOK
Marcus Morris set an Olympic-height bar for himself on Saturday, calling himself the best LeBron James defender this side of Kawhi Leonard.
That the comment still stands one game into this Eastern Conference finals series is a testament to the willingness of the Celtics’ forward to put himself on the spot. Though he wasn’t the only defender rotated out on the NBA superstar, and was aided by some help defense along the way, James did indeed have an uncomfortable day, shooting 5-for-16 for his 15 points, and posting seven turnovers against nine assists.
“It’s a team effort, man. It’s not just me. Everybody played their part in guarding him. He’s obviously the best player in the game, and you need multiple guys and a team to guard him an entire game,” said Morris. “I just think we did a great job of that.”
Morris is also filing moments like that away for his career archive.
Asked about having the gall to say he was looking forward to the matchup, Morris said, “Because I’m a competitor. He’s the best player, you know? I’m going to be able to tell my kids this one day. It’s exciting, I love the challenge, but like I said, man, it’s a team effort.”
Rest assured that James was taking notes.
“I thought they had great game plan Game 1,” James said. “He was the start of it. He was my matchup, and I think they did a great job of communicating throughout the whole game, knowing where I was and knowing where our teammates was. (Celtics coach) Brad (Stevens) and the coaching staff did a great job in Game 1. You commend that. We have an opportunity to look at a lot of film tomorrow, and see ways they were making us uncomfortable, making myself off balance and not have a rhythm all game. So we’ll be much better in Game 2.”
Letting ’em yap
Some coaches would curdle at the thought of one of their players talking so openly about wanting to take on the best player in the league, but Stevens prefers to let his players be themselves.
“I don’t even worry about it,” said Stevens. “I don’t pay attention to any of that stuff. I just pay attention to what happens on the court. We’ve got a lot of room to improve from tonight. I thought we missed some opportunities to close out the shooters. I thought some of our doubles were bad, and I thought offensively we got stagnant in their third quarter run. I think we’re very alert to the fact that we’ll get a heavyweight punch tomorrow night.” Marcus Smart had an ongoing dialogue with James throughout the game, starting with when the Celtics guard stripped the ball from the Cavs star, triggering a fast break that culminated in an Al Horford 3-pointer.
James, thought he was fouled, smiled and said so to Smart. Later James knocked the ball out of Smart’s grasp, and they slapped hands after the whistle.
“It was going into the half — he made the strip on me when I tried to shoot it, and I thought it was a foul,” said Smart. “He just kind of laughed and said that wasn’t a foul, and we moved on to the next play.”
Baynes gives way
Not that it would make a difference if Aron Baynes got a little edgy about being replaced in the starting lineup by Morris, but a luxury for Stevens is Baynes’ willingness to go along with any decision.
“We’ve done this with Baynes all year against certain matchups,” said Stevens. “He knew when we got together whatever day it was that that was the most likely scenario, so he didn’t even step on the floor with the first group. He knows that (Kevin) Love at the 5 is a unique coverage. And then just as many versatile guys out there as possible to guard LeBron and the other guys on the court.
“I’ve said this not enough times: that you can’t have better leaders than Al and Baynes. Like, you can’t,” he said. “They’re both our two oldest players, they are totally selfless, they are totally in it for the team, they wrap their arms around young guys, young guys feel ownership with them. Like, as good as it gets.
“Being able to take him in and out of the lineup (has) set a great example for everybody else. So when a guy like Jaylen (Brown)’s coming off injury last series, he just knows that’s just part of it. Sometimes you don’t start the next game and I think that’s a really good situation to be in, it’s due to the leadership of those guys.”