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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CELTICS VS CAVALIERS

May 19, 2017

LeBron James

Boston, Massachusetts: Postgame

Cavaliers - 130, Celtics - 86.

Q. The MVP voting came out a couple minutes before the tip tonight. I'm wondering if you saw those results, that you were not in the top three, and if that fed into the game at all, and whether or not you even saw your reaction to not being in the top three.
LeBRON JAMES: No, I didn't see it. And what are you going to do about it at the end of the day? My only job is to try to be the MVP for this team every night, put my teammates, put our franchise in position to be successful and ultimately compete for a championship. For me, I know what I bring to the table. This league knows what I bring to the table. That's for you guys to write about. It's not for me to be concerned about.

Q. Before the playoffs, you said you thought that you had enough to win a championship this year. What are you seeing from your team now, 10 straight? And obviously tonight's game was what it was. Where do you see this team right now?
LeBRON JAMES: We just want to try to get better. I also told you we had another level. You looked at me crazy when I told you that. I believe we've got another level as well. As well as we played tonight, there were still some things we could have done better. We had a few bad turnovers offensively that we could do better. We had a couple miscues defensively where we gave up some open looks.

We can get better. That's the positive for our ballclub. There's no complacency with us right now. There shouldn't be. It's the postseason. But we like where we're headed and the direction we're headed right now.

Q. Even before the series started Brad Stevens said that he felt like the Cavs had a perfect roster. What do you feel about the roster composition and the pieces that you have and what you are potentially able to accomplish with them?
LeBRON JAMES: Well, that's a huge compliment, but there's no such thing for us. We don't have a perfect roster. We don't have a perfect team. But we can make up for mistakes, and we can make up for maybe some deficiencies that we may have because we communicate, we fly around and we sacrifice for one another. That could put us as close to perfection as possible, which you can't ever get to. But our communication level, our sacrifice, what we give to each other every night kind of covers that, kind of covers some of the faults that we may have. And with the faults that we do have, we try to get better and better at it so we can be as great as we can be every single night.

Q. You said this team had another level, but now you've won 13 straight games in the postseason. Is this the highest level that you've played offensively in your career?
LeBRON JAMES: I don't know. I'm a guy who lives in the moment. Our team is in a great groove, and I'm happy to be a part of that groove. At the end of the day, we want to try to put ourselves in position to win every game. That's the goal. Can you do that? Sometimes you come out with an L, but it's how you learn from those experiences that's going to help you out the next time. We are in a good groove as a team, and we want to try to continue that going home.

Q. Isaiah sat out the second half. Brad told us before you came out here that he's been dealing with an injury since last week. Can you sense something physically different with him throughout these first two games?
LeBRON JAMES: No, I don't really pay attention to those things, to be honest. I only pay attention to what's going on with our guys and how we can put a lot of pressure on the opposing team, from IT to the rest of those guys. Obviously we didn't see him in the second half. Marcus Smart started the second half, but that was not our concern going into the second half. Our concern was not get complacent. Don't do what we did in Game 1 in the third quarter here, where we gave up I think 36 or something points in that quarter. Don't allow them to get into a good groove.

It's not my concern.

Q. Do you feel like with your physical perimeter defense you guys have kind of pushed them out of their comfortable game plan and put their backs against the wall?
LeBRON JAMES: Well, they're going to make another adjustment, and we have to be ready for that going into Game 3. We're going to watch film tomorrow and see ways we can be better. We do have some great perimeter defenders that take the challenge, but we also have great third-line defense as well with our front line, which communicates pick-and-roll coverages or pin-down coverages or whatever coverages and allow the guards to get up into the ball or do what they need to do to be successful versus their guards.

Q. Brad was saying one of the takeaways he took from the game was in the beginning of the fourth quarter Kyle [Korver] and a bunch of the veterans were out there playing so professionally. Are you guys at a point where you're challenging each other, excellent veterans making each other better?
LeBRON JAMES: Absolutely. We have a veteran ballclub. We're one of the oldest teams in the league, so we all push each other. We're here for one reason. When you sign up to be here, we're here to compete. We're here to sacrifice for one another. And if you're in garbage time or if you're in in crunch time, you need to be a professional. RJ [Richard Jefferson] has done that. Champ [James Jones] has done that. Channing [Frye] is doing that. You see guys playing one round, a huge piece for one round, but then the next round certain things change. Guys just continue to stay ready. Guys continue to stay professional.

It's great to be in a locker room like that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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