I’ll never understand the allure of trash talk. It’s a practice that drains energy to maybe knock your opponents off their game. Honestly, what championship has ever been won by trash talk? Call me old fashioned, but I'm more partial to causing true despair by snuffing my opponent's hope out at the hoop.
We won’t know if trash talk leads to titles this year now that Indiana Pacer Lance Stephenson spent too much time "getting under [LeBron's] skin" rather than practicing his jump shot. Stephenson laid a big ol' goose egg for the first three quarters of Game Four before scraping together enough buckets to finish with nine points.
Meanwhile, LeBron broke Michael Jordan’s record of 73 straight games of scoring 25 points in the playoffs. He finished the game with 32 points.
The Pacers did manage to get some solid contributions from starters Paul George and David West. Solid only goes so far when the rest of your team scores 37 points combined.
The Pacers were under enough pressure already. By calling LeBron's own in-game chirping a "weakness," all he did was increase the scrutiny on his own team's shortcomings.
This episode calls to mind the 2011 NBA Finals between this Heat team and the Dallas Mavericks when Miami was flying high, leading the series 2-1. Adding to Miami's advantage, Dallas’ best player Dirk Nowitzki caught the flu leading into Game 4. Instead of handling business and closing the series, LeBron and Dwayne Wade mocked Dirk’s illness. LeBron and Wade acted like punks regardless of whether or not the Heat won; as it happens, they lost, the Mavs tied the series, and went on to win the NBA title.
Trash talk just makes you look even more foolish when you're caught napping on defense.
Do better, Lance.