Marcus Morris on guarding LeBron James: ‘I’m going to be able to tell my kids this one day’
James finished with a team-low plus-minus of minus-32.
Marcus Morris set some pretty high expectations for himself ahead of Game 1 between the Celtics and the Cavaliers Sunday.
During Boston’s final practice before the conference finals opener, Morris confidently said he’s “probably the best guy” — outside of Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard — capable of defending NBA superstar LeBron James.
Though some deemed his claim laughable, Morris backed up his words with an outstanding defensive performance to fuel Boston’s 108-83 victory Sunday. James was limited to 15 points on 5-for-16 shooting and missed all five of his three-point attempts. He finished with a team-low plus-minus of minus-32.
Morris, however, shied away from taking credit for James’s offensive struggles.
“It’s a team effort, man,” Morris said. “It’s not just me. Everybody played their part in guarding him. He’s obviously the best player in the game, and you need multiple guys and a team to guard him an entire game. I just think we did a great job of that.”
Coach Brad Stevens and teammate Al Horford echoed Morris’s sentiment.
“I thought by committee everybody worked hard,” Stevens said. “You just have to keep making it as hard as possible on LeBron. Easier said than done. He’s obviously not going to have many games like that. Their shooters around him won’t have many games like that. But I thought our guys were locked in.”
Despite picking up two early fouls, Morris was certainly among those who were locked in defensively. The 28-year-old said he was looking forward to guarding James because he’s “a competitor.”
“[LeBron’s] the best player, you know?” Morris said. “I’m going to be able to tell my kids this one day. It’s exciting. I love the challenge.”
Horford said Morris’s willingness to not just take on but embrace the daunting task of guarding James is nothing new.
“Marcus is one of our leaders, and he’s been a presence since the first day he got here,” he said. “I think taking on this challenge is something we expect out of him. We have his back out there. Like he said, we’re doing it as a unit. It’s not all on him. But you do have to give him credit for his focus and his commitment for this team.”
After the Cavaliers lit up the Toronto Raptors — scoring an average of 118.5 points per game in their conference semifinals matchup — Boston contained Cleveland to just 83 points in Game 1. As a team, the Cavs shot 36 percent from the field and a dismal 15.4 percent from behind the arc. Morris said the defensive stops helped facilitate Boston’s offense, too.
“We just did a great job of moving the ball,” he said. “If you look down at the box scores, we all shot the ball pretty well. We just did a good job of getting in transition.”
With 21 points, Morris was one of four Celtics to score in double digits. He shot 7-for-12 from the field and 3-for-4 from three. He also grabbed 10 rebounds to notch a double-double in his first playoff start with the Celtics.
“Our confidence level is very high,” Morris said.
