WALTHAM, Mass. -- Boston Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas said his team cannot overreact to Wednesday's lopsided loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
"We can't panic. It's only one game," Thomas said after Boston's off-day workout Thursday. "One game. They took care of business, and we just gotta take care of business in Game 2."
Told he sounded confident in his team's ability to bounce back, Thomas smiled and declared, "I'm very confident."
Pressed on why, he kept things light.
"I believe in these guys. We're not scared of Cleveland. They're not the Monstars. They're not on 'Space Jam,'" Thomas said. "They lace up their shoes just like us. They just happened to play better than us in Game 1. We just gotta protect [our] home court in Game 2 and get the win."
Thomas said that he's fine if the rest of the world wants to write off the Celtics, but he believes in his teammates.
"We're not just happy to be here," said Thomas. "We want to win this series. And that's what we're trying to do. We want to let everybody in this world know that we're for real and that we're one of the top teams in the NBA. With this series, we gotta go out and show the world. Everybody knows that everybody is counting us out. And we've been there before, though. It's nothing new for us."
