INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- The Cavaliers weren't ready for the playoffs, but they are now, LeBron James said.

They either had forgotten, or didn't know, how physical they have to play in the postseason. But now they get it, he said.

They're used to falling behind big in first quarters or halves and winning those games in the regular season. The playoffs don't work that way, and now the Cavs understand, James said.

James said the Cavs are ready for Game 2 tonight, following Sunday's 98-80 clunker in Game 1.

James' teams have never lost a first-round series, nor had they lost an opening game in any postseason until Sunday. He'd like to avoid his first 0-2 deficit in the first round.

"I can't think about advancing," James said. "I'm thinking about tonight, what my job is, how I can help change the game, help affect the game, try to be as dominant as I can. I don't never think about advancing, I think that's too much karma for the basketball gods, I don't play with the gods like that."

James posted 24 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in Game 1, but didn't take a shot for nearly the first 11 minutes of the game. By the time he got one off, the Cavs were down 20. He's widely expected to make his presence known earlier tonight.

The Cavs, as an organization, are three-time defending conference champs, yes. But they have a few playoff newbies and other rotation players (like Jeff Green and Jose Calderon) who don't have much playoff success.

Cleveland is also a new team in a sense that four of its rotation players were acquired Feb. 8, and injuries wrecked any chance the Cavs had of playing together as a group ahead of the playoffs.

Whatever the case, the Cavs looked like they simply were not ready for the playoffs when they started. They've acknowledged it since the final buzzer sounded.

"I think we spent so much time trying to figure out who we were in the regular season and getting the right lineups and guys in and out and things of that nature, we could never build for the playoffs," James said. "It was kind of like, build for the next game. So the postseason finally hit us and it hit us very well. And I think that can be the best teacher for us to know exactly what we should be ready for tonight."