Cavs not panicking about blowout loss, point to Pacers series

While there were plenty of warning signs that this could be different — the Cavs were almost wholly uncompetitive in Sunday's 108-83 Game 1 loss to the Celtics in the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals — there wasn't any panic in the Cleveland locker room after the game.

"I have zero level of concern at this stage," LeBron James said. "I didn't go to college, so it's not March Madness. You know, you get better throughout the series. You see ways you can get better throughout the series. But I've been down 0-1, I've been down 0-2. I've been down before in the postseason.

"I'm just as confident going into a series whether it's a 0-0 series or I'm down 0-1. So we have another opportunity to be better as a ball club coming in Tuesday night, and we'll see what happens."

On one hand, you can see the Cavs' point. They only need to win one game in Boston to take the series, and it doesn't much matter if it comes in Game 1, 2 or 5 (if they hold serve at home). A win in Tuesday's Game 2 will erase any memory of the Cavs playing wretched basketball on Sunday — they shot just 36 percent from the floor (15.4 percent from 3) and James had seven turnovers himself.

"It’s just one bad game. A bad first game, and there’s lots of things we can do better in the next one," said sharpshooter Kyle Korver, who had five points on 2-of-6 shooting.

What can they do better?

"Pretty much everything. I don’t think we did anything well," Korver said. "We just couldn’t score for a while. I think that’s really what it boiled down to. We weren’t aggressive on the defensive end and I think a lot of that was from being frustrated on the offensive end."

The Cavs took solace in knowing this isn't the first time they were blown out in this postseason — it happened twice in the opening round against Indiana — and they rebounded each time. Cleveland lost by 18 at home in Game 1, and won Game 2 by three. The Cavs dropped Game 6 by 34, and then took the series with a five-point win in Game 7.

"It felt like Game 1 of the quarterfinals where it felt like we got punched in the mouth," said Kevin Love, who had 17 points on 5-of-14 shooting. "We know we just have to come back next game and play better. On both ends of the floor, we didn’t play so great.

"Like I said, they’re a very good team. They’ve played extremely well throughout these playoffs. A number of guys have stepped up for them and they played extremely efficient basketball. We’re not pressing the panic button. We’re going to go back to the drawing board, find out where we can get better on the defensive end and let the offense take care of itself."

James himself has a history of bouncing back from poor outings — and he was a minus-32 and shot just 5-of-16 from the floor on Sunday — in the postseason, and carrying the team to a victory. A look back at some of his larger defeats, and how James responded in the next game:



For me, Game 1 has always been a feel-out game for me, if you've ever followed my history," James said. "So I've got a good sense of the way they played me today and how I'll play going into Game 2."

There was, however, a lot of respect for the Celtics among the Cavs and you got the feeling they realize this might be a different challenge.

"They execute a little bit better (than Indiana), they have more guys on the perimeter that can catch and shoot," said J.R. Smith, who had four points. '(But if) we take some of the turnovers out, make a few shots, it’s a different game."

Said Love: "You have to hand it to Boston, they kept moving, they kept playing extremely hard and they played a great game. ... (Al Horford's) playing at very high level. He got some open looks and he’s been knocking not only that three-ball down, but he’s been passing the ball at an extremely high level, defensively he’s been great. I think even with the guys that have been out, they’re extremely talented and Horford is the guy that has really been the ace in the hole for them."

Even the Celtics know they'll get the Cavs' best shot in Game 1.

"Going to have to play better Tuesday," Brad Stevens said. "We've got a lot of room to improve from tonight. I thought we missed some opportunities to close out the shooters. I thought some of our doubles were bad, and I thought offensively we got stagnant in their third-quarter run.

"I think we're very alert to the fact that we'll get a heavyweight punch on Tuesday night. It's another great challenge, another great opportunity to experience something for this team."