The 2011 NBA Finals will live long in the memory of basketball fans. It was supposed to be the coronation of the King with LeBron James winning his first NBA championship but it ended up becoming a nightmare. The Dallas Mavericks led by Dirk Nowitzki stunned the heavily-favored Miami Heat in 6 games in one of the biggest shocks in NBA history.
LeBron was widely criticized for his play in that series as he averaged just 17.8 points, scoring almost 10 fewer points per game than his regular-season average that season. The lowest point of that series for LeBron was Game 4, as he scored just 8 points in a Heat loss that gave Dallas all the momentum in that series. Many viewing that series, felt that the pressure, as well as the Mavericks trash talk, was bothering James and one of the chief trash talkers on that Dallas squad happened to be DeShawn Stevenson. He repeatedly went at LeBron in that series and he revealed to Michael Rapaport what he said to the King to get under his skin.
NBA Vet Deshawn Stevenson told me his secret to slowing down LeBron @DSteve92JMarie
Watching him get busy Tnite @thebig3 8pmEST/5pmPST pic.twitter.com/613cl5MaNa
— MichaelRapaport (@MichaelRapaport) July 3, 2017
They say when you go at the King you better not miss, and on this particular occasion, it looks like Stevenson managed to put LeBron off his game. Stevenson didn’t do a whole lot with the basketball in that series as he averaged 7 points per game but he managed to make an impact regardless.
LeBron has previously spoken about the 2011 Finals being the toughest moment of his career and to his credit, he bounced back from that humiliating defeat by winning the title the following year. James has of course gone on to win 4 titles in his career and he’ll be hoping to add to his tally as he approaches year 20 in the NBA. As for Stevenson, he has had a rough time after retirement, which led to him selling that championship ring, and while the ring is gone, the memories from that triumph will live on for the rest of his life.
