After downing the Philadelphia 76ers in five games in the second round of the playoffs, the Boston Celtics brace themselves for a different challenge in the conference finals. That would be the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers, the same Cavs team Brad Stevens and the Celtics lost to in last year’s edition of the Eastern Conference finals.

Stevens definitely knows the immense challenge that James poses in the upcoming series with the Cavs, as he talked about the fantastic season James is having during Wednesday night’s postgame presser at TD Garden.

Stevens is not new to facing James in the playoffs. As mentioned earlier, the Celtics faced James and the Cavs last year in the conference finals, losing to Cleveland four games to one.

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Stevens surely wishes he has Kyrie Irving to help counter James, but with the point guard sidelined for the rest of the season to recover from a knee surgery done last March, he will have to rely on the likes of Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, and Terry Rozier to lead the Celtics against Cleveland.

Back in the regular season, the Celtics faced Cleveland three times and in those games, James put up 24.0 points on 53.7 percent shooting from the field with 10.3 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game.

Stevens will have three days of rest and planning before Game 1 of the Cleveland series this coming Sunday at home.

The Celtics are undefeated in their last eight games in Boston.