Marcus Morris on Pacers' defense against LeBron James: 'Them dudes can't guard'

After Marcus Morris helped the Boston Celtics to a Game 1 win by holding LeBron James to 15 points — his lowest scoring total this postseason — the forward is talking a big game.

Morris told Washington Post reporter Candace Buckner (our former Pacers Insider!) that he studied film to look for James' weaknesses. That meant replaying (and replaying, and replaying) clips from the Cleveland Cavaliers series against the Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors.

Morris' biggest takeaway?

"Them dudes can't guard."

Here's the excerpt from Buckner's story:

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.

James was remarkably consistent in the first two rounds. In seven games against the Pacers he averaged 34.4 points, 10 rebounds and 7.7 assists on 55.3 percent shooting.

In a sweep of the Raptors, he put up 34 points, 11.3 assists and 8.3 rebounds on, you guessed it, 55.3 percent shooting.

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It is worth noting that his Game 1 averages are well below what he's done in the playoffs as a whole. He dropped 24 points on 7-for-17 shooting (41.2 percent) against the Pacers and 26 on 12-for-30 (40) against the Raptors.

"Game 1 has always been a feel out game, for me," James said Sunday after the loss to Boston.

But, he was still much, much worse against the Celtics. At 5-for-16 (31.3 percent), it was by far his worst shooting effort this postseason. And only three times all season had James been held to 15 or fewer points. As for his seven turnovers? He'd only hit that mark 10 times this year.

So, yeah. Morris and the Celtics appear to be onto something. But, knowing James, Game 2 (8:30 p.m. Tuesday, ESPN) could make Morris see things a little differently.

You can find IndyStar sports producer Dakota Crawford on Twitter: @DakotaCrawford_.