Brad Stevens on Beating Cavaliers: 'We Know It Will Be Quite a Challenge'
The Boston Celtics finished their second-round victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday with a 114-112 win in Game 5 at TD Garden, but they will now be tasked with facing LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight year.
"LeBron is on just a ridiculous run of play. We know it will be quite a challenge," Celtics head coach Brad Stevens said, per Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated. "The most important thing our team can do tomorrow is go outside. Take a day off and take a deep breath."
Stevens' team will have the opportunity to catch its breath since the Eastern Conference Finals won't begin until Sunday, and Game 1 is home in Boston.
The head coach wasn't wrong about James being on a "ridiculous run" in these playoffs. The four-time MVP is averaging 34.3 points, 9.4 rebounds and 9.0 assists per game through the first two rounds, and this is coming after he led the league in total minutes during the regular season in his 15th year in the league.
He seems superhuman at times, but the Celtics are as well set up as anyone to at least slow him, considering they were tops in the league in defensive rating during the regular season, per NBA.com.
Facing James is just another step of adversity for Boston after it lost Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward and Daniel Theis for the season to injuries. The absence of Irving takes away a primary storyline since the Cavaliers traded him to the Celtics this past offseason, so it will be the likes of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Al Horford dealing with James with a trip to the NBA Finals hanging in the balance.
Even winning two games against James this time around would be a better showing for the Celtics after losing last year's Eastern Conference Finals 4-1.
