Staff writer
The Cleveland Cavaliers had a miserable Game 1 against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, a stunning 18-point loss that Cleveland was never really in.
It was the first Game 1 loss for a LeBron James-led team since 2012, a winning streak that was snapped at 21 games. After the game, James said that he wasn’t that concerned about the poor performance, that there was a learning curve for some of his new teammates.
“Listen, experience is the best teacher, and they got it today,” James said of his teammates. “I think everybody is going to be a lot more calm and a lot more precise in what we want to do, too. So it’s definitely a feel-out game. We’ll see what they’re going to do.”
Apparently “everybody is going to be a lot more calm” translates into “I’m going to take over and do everything next time.”
James opened up Wednesday’s Game 2 against the Pacers on a mission. He scored the Cavs’ first 16 points of the game en route to a 20-point first quarter as Cleveland jumped out to a big lead.
He did it from deep.
LeBron fires from 3!
LBJ scores the first 16 for @cavs and CLE leads 19-3 in Q1!#WhateverItTakes pic.twitter.com/acl2ZOOxUW
— NBA (@NBA) April 18, 2018
He did it from mid-range.
First 13 PTS to LeBron! @cavs lead 13-1 in Cleveland.
: @NBAonTNT pic.twitter.com/LH0g37bun9
— NBA (@NBA) April 18, 2018
He did it on fall-back jumpers.
LeBron starts play with the short pull-up and has the games first 6 points!#WhateverItTakes x #Pacers
: @NBAonTNT pic.twitter.com/5qt2K8mkd8
— NBA (@NBA) April 18, 2018
Before the quarter was done, he had tied the franchise playoff record for field goals in a quarter.
So yeah. James said he wasn’t worried. Now we know why.
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