Marcus Morris on Ty Lue's 'Gooning' Comment: 'S--t, We're Doing What It Takes'
Boston Celtics forward Marcus Morris agreed with Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue's assessment Tuesday that the C's are "gooning the game up" to get an upper hand in the series.
Lue made the comment after Cleveland fell behind 2-0 by virtue of a 107-94 loss in Game 2, and Morris didn't have a problem with it, according to ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin: "Gooning? That's a good word. S--t, we're doing what it takes. Whatever it takes, every player, 1 to 15, whatever it takes, that's what we're doing. You call it what you want to call it. We're just trying to get the win."
Although LeBron James finished Game 2 with 42 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds, Boston's physical, relentless play limited the rest of the Cavs to 52 points combined.
With Cleveland in a deep hole, Lue acknowledged that his team needs to be re-energized when it returns home for Game 3 on Saturday, per McMenamin: "We've got to be tougher, mentally and physically. We've got to come out swinging. We've got to be aggressive. I think we've got to be physical, and we've got to have a physical mindset, you know, that they're coming in, playing tough. They're aggressive, and we've got to match that."
Despite Lue's gooning comment, the dirtiest play of Game 2 arguably came courtesy of Cavs guard JR Smith when he pushed a prone Al Horford in the back on a dunk attempt in the closing minutes.
Smith was permitted to stay in the game after being assessed a flagrant-1 foul, but Marcus Smart took issue with the foul and got into a shoving match with Smith.
Horford didn't like the play but felt it helped the Celtics down the stretch, saying, "I felt like it was uncalled for, that type of play there, but that's the one thing about the group of our guys. We have each other's backs, and it is what it is. We moved on to the next play, and we just locked in even more after that."
Morris expressed supreme confidence in his ability to guard James entering the series, and he backed up his talk in Game 1 by limiting LeBron to 15 points.
The Celtics couldn't keep James in check in Game 2, but with LeBron receiving virtually no help from his supporting cast aside from Kevin Love, his 42-point effort was wasted.
Cleveland has struggled with Boston's hard-nosed play and youthful exuberance, and it will likely need to take a different approach in Saturday's Game 3 to turn the tide.
