Stanley Johnson isn’t remotely afraid of LeBron James

When Detroit Pistons rookie Stanley Johnson was asked if he is afraid of LeBron James, he simply answered “why would I be?”

The Detroit Pistons aren’t supposed to have a chance of winning their first round playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Any matchup between an eighth seed and a first seed is going to be uneven, and that’s only more apparent when you take a young, feisty team like the Pistons and put them against LeBron James’ Cavs. Nevertheless, Pistons rookie Stanley Johnson is doing all he can to guard LeBron, and most importantly “get into his head.”

At times, Johnson has fared pretty well defensively this series. He plays with aggression, he wants his team to compete, and he thinks he’s got in LeBron’s head. And after they bumped into each other during a timeout in Game 2, a contest that the Cavs won 107-90, Johnson is clearly hoping to challenge LeBron in any way he can — both physically and mentally.

Johnson has taken that confident aggression against James to a new level. When asked whether he’s afraid or intimated by LeBron, Johnson bluntly answered “Why would I be?” before adding the following (per Rod Beard of The Detroit News):

"“He laces his shoes up the same way I lace my shoes up. He has to come out there and compete and make shots. Anybody and everybody can get busted any night,” Johnson said. “He’s a great player — I never took that away from him and never said anything about that. I said I’m going to compete every night and give my hardest effort every night and live with it.”"

If you missed it, here’s the bump:

There was also a subtle shove on the baseline in the third quarter, shown in the tweet below.

If you’re a rookie, with the solid strength and 6’8″ frame of Stanley Johnson, you might as well get a little physical with LeBron. After all, what have you got to lose? Why not show some serious competitiveness?

Well, the problem is LeBron can destroy most of his opponents in the blink of an eye, choosing a fading jumper to silence Johnson during this possession en route to scoring 27 points on 12-of-18 shooting. To make the jumper even better, LeBron made sure to send the rookie back a few feet first.

After LeBron’s performance, attacking the rim with full force and leading the Cavs in scoring as he so often does, it doesn’t seem like Johnson is in LeBron’s head in the right way. Sure, he may have aggravated him and the King wants to shut him up, but Johnson won’t be coming out on top.

It doesn’t really matter, though. The Pistons impressed this season just by making it into the playoffs, regardless of how their first round series against the best team in the East turns out. And as for Stanley Johnson, it’s clear Detroit has a (very) confident young fighter who won’t back down from any opponent.

Be sure to watch out for more feisty quotes of his through the rest of the series and his NBA career.

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