LeBron James may have tried an intimidation tactic on Stanley Johnson Wednesday, but the Detroit Pistons rookie is not letting it affect him.
After Johnson made a 3-pointer in the first quarter of Game 2 between the Cavs and Pistons, James gave Johnson a bump.
A little love bump from LeBron after Johnson knocked down that 3 https://t.co/tMEGCJ7Scg
— Tommy Beer (@TommyBeer) April 21, 2016
James’ Cavs won 107-90, with James going for 27 points and Johnson contributing nine points in 22 minutes. You would think LeBron would be above trying to mess with a bench player, but that wasn’t the case. In fact, Johnson thinks he’s in the former NBA MVP’s head:
Stanley Johnson on LeBron: "I'm definitely in his head. That's for sure."
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) April 21, 2016
Johnson also called out James for his trash talk and then dished on some of the Cavaliers’ players:
Stanley Johnson on LeBron: "I wish he would just talk when [the game] is 0-0, not when he's up 16."
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) April 21, 2016
“He jabbers,” Johnson said after Game 2. “He moves his mouth sometimes. Their whole team does, kind of like their little cheerleaders on the bench. Every time you walk in the right corner. They’re always saying something like they’re playing basketball, like they’re actually in the game. There’s only seven or eight players who play, I don’t see why the other players are talking. They might as well just be in the stands, in my opinion.”
Stanley Johnson when asked why he's not afraid of LeBron as many other young players would be in same situation:
"Why would I be?"
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) April 21, 2016
Johnson also called James’ bump on him a cheap shot and “fake.”
We should probably introduce the Arizona product to Joakim Noah, a frequent James competitor who has said the same thing about LeBron’s teams in the past.
With his team up 2-0 in the series, James probably is not letting Johnson’s comments bother him too much, but this series just got a lot more interesting.
