LeBron James is a busy man. As such, he can’t be bothered by a trivial late-season matchup between two teams tied atop the NBA’s Eastern Conference.
Such are the stakes Wednesday night at TD Garden, where the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers will meet for the final time this season in a game that could decide who earns the No. 1 seed in the East. Pretty big deal, right?
Not according to James.
“I don’t know, I’ve played in a lot of big games,” the Cavs star said Tuesday night after a win over the Orlando Magic, via ESPN.com. “I don’t … I’m the last person to ask about a big game in the regular season. I’m sorry.”
Lest we forget, James is a playoff veteran who has missed the postseason only once in his 14-year NBA career and has reached six consecutive NBA Finals. So regular-season games don’t exactly concern him — even if they’re against a Celtics team that has won eight of its last 10 and could wind up facing the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
“Their crowd is going to be great, and it’s a very good team we’re going to be playing against (Wednesday),” James said. “We know that. 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. I’m the last person to ask about a regular-season game, dude. Sorry.”
James, of course, has a point. The Cavs ceded the No. 1 seed to the Atlanta Hawks in 2015, only to sweep them out of the East Finals, so LeBron knows better than anyone that postseason games are the only ones that really matter.
That said, his comments should provide some nice bulletin-board material for the Celtics on Wednesday night.
Thumbnail photo via Jeremy Brevard/USA TODAY Sports Images
