LeBron James has had his share of bitter playoff rivalries throughout his career in the NBA. The likes of Paul George and Paul Pierce went at him in multiple playoff appearances, but some rivalries are more unexpected in terms of stature on the court. We saw that in 2011 with LeBron and DeShawn Stevenson of the Mavericks, and we saw it in 2014 with LeBron and Lance Stephenson.
Stephenson was a part of the Indiana Pacers, who were led by Paul George in 2014 as they matched up against LeBron’s Miami Heat in the 2014 Eastern Conference Finals. Lance did his best to try and contain James but couldn’t match up from a skill perspective.
As a result, Stephenson tried to get into LeBron’s head with a lot of non-basketball things. An example of the same could be the clip of Lance blowing into LeBron’s ears during a game. The man who became teammates with LBJ in 2018 has explained what happened there by simply saying, ‘I just wanted to win!’
“I just wanted to win.”
Lance Stephenson on why he blew in LeBron’s ear in the 2014 ECF 🌬
From B/R X @carsdotcom https://t.co/LgBrGaTjDH
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 15, 2022
Stephenson could still be an extremely quality NBA player, as he showed last season with the Indiana Pacers. Whether there is interest around the league for him is another question, but Stephenson had some great moments after re-entering the league during last year’s COVID outbreak that saw teams sign additional players.
Lance didn’t end up winning in 2014, as the Heat beat the Pacers despite being the lower seed that season. He had some strong games, but not enough to stop the Pacers from losing in 6.
LeBron has had his fair share of irritants in his career, as not every player can match up to his freakish athletic ability. Stephenson tried to maximize what he could in the situation he was in. While they did not win, he did earn Bron’s respect for him to recruit him to join the Lakers in 2018.
