LeBron James wanted to fight Lance Stephenson but held back
By Josh Hill
One of the things we most remember about the Eastern Conference Finals isn’t that the Miami Heat moved on to their fourth NBA Finals appearance in as many years, it’s how childish Lance Stephenson got at times during the series with this antics towards LeBron James.
While some of the silly stuff got laughed off, it wasn’t all fun and games and in the end LeBron really doesn’t have a whole lot of respect for a guy he wanted to knock out on a few separate occasions. Thankfully, he held back but that just goes to show the focus of the Heat.
Pro Basketball Talk’s Brett Pollakoff passes along quotes from LeBron James that seem to indicate he wanted to knock Stephenson on his back but held off doing so because he’s a more mature player.
"I don’t know. I have no idea how I restrained. I don’t know, I guess I just understand what the bigger picture is.It was uncalled for, for sure. That was — I don’t know. I’m at a loss of words with that, but it was uncalled for, and I was able to move on from it. I let him know how I felt.I don’t know. I have no idea how I restrained. I don’t know, I guess I just understand what the bigger picture is.It was uncalled for, for sure. That was — I don’t know. I’m at a loss of words with that, but it was uncalled for, and I was able to move on from it. I let him know how I felt."
Nothing about this is surprising as lots of people wanted to fight Lance Stephenson during the Eastern Conference Finals but apparently none more than LeBron James. we can’t blame him as just like the class clown, Stephenson didn’t know when to turn it off and his antics went from being funny to being annoying and sometimes dangerous. The love tap on LeBron’s chin in Game 6 was as close as we came to a fight, and that was clearly the last straw for LeBron.
BUt he never let Lance get inside his head and that’s what counts, as LeBron saying he was able to move on from the situation says a lot more than any of Stephenson’s actions ever could.