LeBron James couldn't have performed much worse than he did in the Cleveland Cavaliers' 25-point Game 1 loss to the Boston Celtics. He missed more than his fair share of shots, turned the rock over a great deal, and was a team-worst minus-32 when on the floor.
As ugly as his Sunday afternoon was, James has experienced this before, and won't allow himself to get rattled with so much basketball yet to be played.
"I have zero level of concern at this stage," said James, according to Sports Illustrated's Ben Golliver. "I didn't go to college, so it's not March Madness. You get better throughout the series, and see ways you can get better throughout the series.
"I've been down 0-1, I've been down 0-2. I've been down before in the postseason. For me, there's no real level of concern no matter how bad I played tonight with seven turnovers, how inefficient I was shooting the ball. I'm just as confident going into a series no matter if it's a 0-0 series or I'm down 0-1. We have another opportunity to be better as a ballclub. Come in Tuesday night and we'll see what happens."
James played 36 minutes at TD Garden on Sunday, scoring 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting while missing all five of his 3-point attempts. He also notched nine assists, six rebounds, and two rejections, and was responsible for seven of Cleveland's nine turnovers.
Related - Stevens after Celtics' 25-point win: 'We're going to have to play better'
The 25-point deficit stands as the second-biggest loss by a LeBron-led team in a Game 1. In the 2006 Eastern Conference semifinals, Cleveland fell 113-86 to the Detroit Pistons.
