LeBron James

LeBron James on Game 3 performance: 'I was just pretty poor'

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

Sports Illustrated, Scooby Axson/Sports Illustrated

Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James was blunt about the way he played after a Game 3 Eastern Conference finals loss against the Boston Celtics, but not before he got into with a fan on the way to a press conference.

James had words with a fan after the Cavaliers blew a 21-point third quarter lead and lost 111–108. A fan was heckling James about scoring only 11 points, including none in the fourth quarter. Arena security quickly got the fan away from James.

James then assessed his Game 3 performance.

"I had a tough game, period -- not just in the second half," James said. "Me personally, I didn't have it. My teammates did a great job of keeping us in the game, building that lead. But me personally, I didn't have it. That's all I've got to say about my performance."

"I was just pretty poor," James added. "What else do you want me to say? It seems like you only ask questions when we lose. ... You always come around when we lose, I swear."

James' 11 points were his fewest in his 107 career home playoff games.

Cleveland's 13-game postseason winning streak was snapped in the loss.

"I feel like you have to have some type of adversity in order to be successful," James said. "If it was going to happen, let it happen now. Let us regroup. Let us regroup, and all the narrative and everything that was going on, let's regroup, and let's get back to playing desperate basketball, which they did tonight. So we've got to be a lot better, for sure."

Game 4 is Tuesday night in Cleveland.