Indiana Pacers fans loved Lance Stephenson’s enthusiasm. His teammates often did, too, but there was that one time …
Former Pacers star Paul George discussed a famous – or perhaps, infamous – Stephenson moment on his Podcast P. You know it well – Stephenson blowing in LeBron James’ ear during the 2014 Eastern Conference finals.
George was reminded of that moment in the wake of Dillon Brooks’ comments about James during the Los Angeles Lakers-Memphis Grizzlies playoff series. Brooks called James “old” and said James hadn’t earned his respect. James and the Lakers eliminated Memphis in six games.
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“The reason Lance was on ‘Bron for those moments was because I was in foul trouble,” George said. “But, for the series, I’m guarding him. So, I was like, ‘Bro, what the (expletive) you doing?’ But, I thought it raised our intensity of like, ‘We’re not backing down to y’all!’ I thought we stood behind Lance after he did that. Opposed to like getting on him about it or breaking up about it. I thought we backed him up and it made for us to just raise the intensity.”
Miami eliminated the Pacers six games that year.
This article originally appeared on the Indianapolis Star: Paul George discusses Lance Stephenson blowing in LeBron James’ ear