In case you were wondering, LeBron James isn’t going to make a big deal out of Wednesday night’s matchup against the Boston Celtics.
Like, at all.
"I don't know, I've played in a lot of big games . . . I don't... I'm the last person to ask about a big game in the regular season. I'm sorry.
Taking nothing from them, they've been playing some great ball, but I'm not one to get caught up in the regular season. I'm sorry. I've been to six straight Finals, man.”
Well, there you have it. LeBron didn’t really say anything new here. We knew that he didn’t much care about the regular season, and historically hasn’t cared all that much about having the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Cavs closed out every playoff series they had last year on the road, and clearly James is very confident that when they get to the postseason, they’ll figure it out.
For what it’s worth, there’s certainly no guarantee that they won’t have homecourt advantage in the Conference Finals. Boston would have a tough matchup with either Toronto or Washington where I’d be hesitant to make either side a heavy favorite.
For Boston, this game obviously matters a lot. Winning in the playoffs is often about margin for error, and giving yourself the biggest one possible with roster construction, good coaching and strong talent. Cleveland’s margin is just way bigger than Boston’s in a potential matchup, so the Celtics should be searching for every possible edge if they’re trying to make a Finals run.
For LeBron though, it’ll be business as usual. With Tristan Thompson ruled out of tonight’s game, it’ll be interesting to see if Tyronn Lue just decides to punt this one and sit everyone, further pissing off the league office and fans everywhere given the national TV status of tonight’s game.
We’ll eagerly anticipate the game until then, even if LeBron won’t.