The Boston Celtics on Sunday night pulled off an impressive comeback win in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers by completely erasing a 21-point deficit.
What has become one of the focal points following the contest was the lackluster performance from LeBron James as he struggled to find any consistency scoring 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting from the field including 0-for-4 from beyond the arc with six rebounds, six assists, and six turnovers in 45 minutes played.
It was one of the worst outings of James' career in the playoffs that played a large part to the Celtics being able to mount a comeback on the road. Despite all of this, Boston head coach Brad Stevens neglected to criticize James following the game.
Celtics' Brad Stevens on LeBron James: "He's the best player in the world. I'm not going to criticize him one bit." pic.twitter.com/LvDDqGPEta
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) May 22, 2017
It was James' first off-game in quite some time and he had been an absolute force in the playoffs up to that point averaging 34.3 points on 56.9 percent shooting with 8.5 rebounds, and 7.1 assists prior to Game 3. He is the first player to register eight straight games with at least 30 points in a single postseason since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had nine in a row during the 1970 playoffs.
He is playing some of the best basketball of his career all in his 14th year in the league. James had shown that against the Celtics in the playoffs in the first two games scoring at least 30 points while shooting greater than 58 percent from the field with seven assists per contest.
More importantly, Stevens is well aware that James will come out an even more motivated and focused player in Game 4 on Tuesday night and anything he says would be used at bulletin board material for the four-time league MVP.
Follow Us
Subscribe