Brad Stevens, Jaylen Brown, Celtics Comment After 44-Point Loss vs. Cavaliers

Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens said his team's only option is to "compete" after a 130-86 blowout loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com passed along comments from Stevens and Celtics players following the 44-point drubbing at home to fall into a 2-0 series hole. Boston small forward Jaylen Brown didn't sugarcoat the lopsided defeat.

"We got our ass kicked. Point-blank, period," Brown said. "We didn't come out with enough energy to start the game off, two games in a row. Defending champs, they swept us off the floor."

Stevens felt the Celtics played better than the 13-point Game 1 loss indicated, but he admitted his team laid an egg in Friday night's contest. Now he's looking toward the rest of the series.

"We have to play a lot better," he said. "So we're going to focus on us, we're going to figure out ways to play better and we're going to go after it on Sunday. We're getting on that plane to play well."

Meanwhile, guard Gerald Green is hoping the frustrating start doesn't cause the team to fracture before it has a chance to rebound in Cleveland over the next two games.

"I think the first thing we've got to do is stay together," Green said. "We've got to stay together and ride the course. It's a long series. We've been in this situation before. We lost two games at home. It wasn't to this type of caliber team, though. But we've been in this situation before. I think guys still believe. I know I do. I feel like we can go to Cleveland and make it a whole lot different Games 3 and 4 than we did 1 and 2."

Boston lost the first two contests of its first-round series against the Chicago Bulls before winning four straight, including three on the road, to advance.

The uphill climb begins with figuring out a way to at least slow down Cavs superstar LeBron James. He's averaged 34.0 points, 7.0 assists and 6.5 rebounds while shooting 61.9 percent from the field through the first two games. His 33 minutes Friday were a new low for the current playoff run.

Game 3 is Sunday night at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, which will also host Game 4 on Tuesday night. The No. 1-seeded Celtics must win at least one of those games if they are going to play another home game this season.