Heat vs. Pacers Game 4: Lance Stephenson Thinks LeBron's Trash Talking Is A "Sign of Weakness"

When LeBron James was with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he used to battle it out verbally against DeShawn Stevenson of the Washington Wizards. Now as a Heat, he is engaged with the same trash talking with Lance Stephenson of the Indiana Pacers.

During the second quarter of Game 3 of the Miami Heat - Indiana Pacers match of the Eastern Conference finals series, James and Stephenson had a verbal argument, which resulted to LeBron getting called for an offensive foul. The two continued to exchange words throughout the game. In the end, James scored 26 points while Stephenson had 10. The Heat won with a final score of 99-87.

In a report by Yahoo! Sports, James said, "One thing I'm not going to do is give y'all a storyline. I'm not going to do that. This is the Pacers versus the Heat. I don't get involved in that." He added, "I've already been involved in a 'LeBron versus Stevenson' in my playoff career. I'm not going to start with another Stephenson. I'm not going to do it. You won't get me today."

ESPN writes that Stephenson said, "To me I think it's a sign of weakness because he never used to say nothing. I used to always be the one who would say, I'm going to do something to get you mad. Now he's trying to do it to me. I feel like there's a weakness and I feel like I'm doing something right to get underneath his skin."

James also said, "I'm not much of a talker but I can. I don't ever start it but I can get involved in it and still keep my head. Winning the game is more important. I understand what the main goal is."

It is not the first time that James and Stephenson had such an argument. During the 2012 conference semi-finals involving the Heat and Pacers, Stephenson gestured a choke sign by putting his hands over his throat after James missed free throws. Indiana won Game 3 that time. However, James recovered in Game 4 by dropping 40 points and grabbing 18 rebounds.