With their 107-90 win over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers lead the best-of-seven series 2-0.
Over the course of the two games, LeBron James hasn’t been exploding for points (28), but he’s been very efficient (13-of-15 on field goals). Despite the efficiency, the Pistons’ Stanley Johnson — who is primarily guarding James in the series when he isn’t on the bench — thinks he’s been stopping the King.
Johnson went as far to say that he’s “definitely in his (LeBron’s) head”:
“I’m definitely in his head. That’s for sure,” Johnson told reporters.
Johnson has been trash-talking LeBron throughout the series, and number 23 has noticed.
https://vine.co/v/iFI6F1WqqVh
Johnson is also just a rookie, so it’s not like he has a ton of credibility and history to go off of when trash-talking one of the best players in the game’s history. Ironically, Johnson does have a history of trash-talking James that dates back to before the rookie was in the league.
During one of James’ offseason skills camp a couple years ago, Johnson reportedly trash talked James at the camp:
“The whole week when I’m playing during the games, he’s there watching and I’m like, ‘You’re next,'” Johnson said. “When he came on the court, I’m just ultra-confident with it. Super confident. … He’s the best player in the world but at the same time, he laces his shoes up the same way I lace my shoes up. Hopefully, one day I’ll get to play against him [in the NBA]. … LeBron James, to me, he’s just a really good basketball player and I have to match up with him.”
Fast forward to a couple years later to the NBA playoffs during his rookie season, and Johnson is picking up where he left off.
Johnson on LBJ/Cavs: "He jabbers. He moves his mouth sometimes. Their whole team does, kind of like their little cheerleaders on the bench."
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) April 21, 2016
On the flip side, LeBron hasn’t trash-talked much back, but when you look at the box score, he does have more ammo.
For one, the Cavaliers are up 2-0 in the best-of-seven series. Addtionally, Johnson hasn’t started either game of the series thus far. On top of that, Johnson has only 18 total points, 10 fewer than LeBron, and is shooting 7-11 from field goal range, worse than LeBron’s 13-15.
Whether the Pistons are able to make any sort of comeback remains to be seen. However one thing is almost certain: Johnson is going to continue trash-talking LeBron when he’s done nothing but play worse than the King.
Johnson on LBJ: "He's going to have to strap his shoes in every night tight because I'm going to strap my shoes in every night tight."
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) April 21, 2016
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