The Cleveland Cavaliers made a lot of changes throughout the 2017-18 NBA season in hopes that they could turn things around in time for the start of the NBA playoffs. Throughout his NBA career, LeBron James has always said that the results in the regular season don't matter as long as they are ready when the playoffs begin and that is the season he cares most about. However, the NBA playoffs started with a shocking loss to the Indiana Pacers.

It wasn't the fact that Cleveland lost, it was the fact that the game was a blowout, with Indiana winning 98-80. In his post-game press conference, LeBron had some pretty big comments about the Cavaliers playoff hopes following the big loss.

LeBron James on the Cavs loss in the NBA playoffs

The Cleveland Cavaliers struggled in their first-round playoff loss to the Indiana Pacers. LeBron James himself played strong, with a triple-double, scoring 24 points, with 12 assists and 10 rebounds. However, the only other two players to score in double digits were off the bench in Larry Nance Jr. (10 points) and J.R.

Smith (15 points).

J.R. Smith was most surprising because Ty Lue originally said that he was going to be at the end of the bench with Tristan Thompson. While Thompson only played two minutes, Smith put in 29 minutes and scored 15 points. Jeff Green, starting in Thompson's place missed all seven shot attempts and finished with no points.

LeBron James had every reason to be angry but when asked about how this first loss would affect him, he said that he is the last person to ask how he will feel over the next couple of days. The reason is that LeBron pointed out that he was down 3-1 in the NBA finals and now the Cleveland Cavaliers are down 0-1 in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

LeBron and his NBA playoff history

LeBron James did say that there are players on the Cleveland Cavaliers roster who had never played in the NBA playoffs before. He also said that "experience is the best teacher" and he said that those players now have playoff experience.

However, for LeBron James, he is in an unfamiliar spot. LeBron had been to the NBA Finals in seven straight seasons. In the last five, the Cleveland Cavaliers or Miami Heat had swept the first round with James at the lead. That was 21 consecutive first-round playoff wins for James and that streak was broken today.

Of course, LeBron James is no stranger to overcoming adversity. Forget about a first-round loss to the Indiana Pacers today.

In 2016, the Cleveland Cavaliers became the first ever team to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win the NBA Finals, when they beat the Golden State Warriors two years ago. Now, LeBron will try to work his magic once again.