The Boston Celtics were humiliated on their home court in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals Wednesday night. The final score of 117-104 really didn’t do justice here. Cleveland pretty much held a 20-plus point lead throughout the game before both teams emptied their benches.
LeBron James was literally toying with lesser competition en route to the defending champs earning their ninth consecutive win to open the playoffs. It was ugly for the home team, absolutely ugly.
Despite this, the Celtics don’t appear to be afraid of their conference rivals. At least, if we ask MVP candidate Isaiah Thomas.
"We're not afraid of Cleveland. They're not the Monstars. They're not Space Jam." – @Celtics @Isaiah_Thomas
— A. Sherrod Blakely (@ASherrodblakely) May 18, 2017
Mr. James will be starring in the reboot of “Space Jam,” so this comment from Thomas seems to be a bit off. He is almost literally a monstar. He also played like it on Wednesday night, absolutely dominating the Celtics in every possible way.
While the Celtics might not be scared of Cleveland, they surely have to make adjustments in order to avoid this being a relatively short conference finals series. That should include attempting to avoid the 5-foot-9 Thomas going up against James in one-on-one situations.
Boston hosts Cleveland in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Friday night. It’s pretty much a must win for Thomas and his top-seeded Celtics.