LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are currently steamrolling the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. But they aren’t happy at all that their opponent will be without star point guard Isaiah Thomas the rest of the way.
Thomas aggravated a hip injury in Game 2 that he originally suffered in March and then tweaked again last series against Washington. He’s already been ruled out of the playoffs and is now engaging specialists, bracing for possible hip surgery (more on that here).
Though, James made it clear the injury won’t change what Cleveland does going forward.
“It won’t change our approach,” James said Sunday morning following the Cavs’ shootaround prior to Game 3, per Daryl Ruiter of 92.3 The Fan. “We hate that Isaiah got hurt. Salute to him [for] an unbelievable season, what he was able to accomplish this year and the things he was able to do in the postseason under the circumstances with the tragic death of his sister.”
The Cavaliers have blown out the Celtics in both of the first two games this series. They’ve won the two games by a combined score of 57 points and appear destined for a sweep. However, they certainly are not going to suddenly engage cruise control.
“For us, as a unit, it’s never been about one guy. That’s not our focus,” James said. “It’s always been about team effort, how we can put out the best gameplan to go against their team. They’re still well coached, they still got players out there that’s going to look for the challenge and step up their play, so we have to be ready.”
James is attempting to make it to his seventh straight NBA Finals and his third straight with the Cavaliers. It sure looks like he’ll make it, and that the Golden State Warriors will be the team he faces in as many years.
Clearly, the best player in the world has his game face on, and that’s not going to change any time soon.