Marcus Morris drew a lot of attention for lauding his own defense of LeBron James before the Celtics and Cavaliers began the Eastern Conference finals. (Morris backed it up in Game 1.)
But Morris’ self-praise came with humbler context. He called LeBron the best player in the NBA. He noted Kawhi Leonard was better at defending LeBron. He emphasized that slowing LeBron wouldn’t be a one-man job.
This isn’t as subdued.
Candace Buckner of The Washington Post:Morris waited next in the long line of LeBron defenders, and so he studied the tendencies of the ones who came before. He watched plays on Synergy. He downloaded clips on YouTube. He projected games on his flat screen, pressing the rewind button once, twice, then three times just to figure out what, if anything, he could take from the previous two playoff teams that had been vanquished by the King.
Morris sought inspiration, but he stumbled upon a harsh truth.
“Them dudes can’t guard. That’s what I did pick up,” Morris said, bluntly.
Bojan Bogdanovic, Lance Stephenson, Thaddeus Young, O.G. Anunoby and Pascal Siakam can (some reasonably, others not) object – from home.
Morris is busy readying for what will likely be a bounce-back Game 2 by LeBron.
