LeBron James has been called out by Stephen A. Smith, who took issue with James’ recent comments about the Miami Heat losing in the 2011 Finals.
Speaking on the Mind The Game podcast, James said the team wasn’t as good as it could have been because it consisted primarily of “all minimum guys” and “didn’t fill out the complimentary guys enough”.
Interpreting those comments as excuses for losing the Finals that year, Stephen A. delivered a scathing response.
“LeBron James, that is some straight bullsh*t. You gotta be kidding me. I know that you didn’t just say that with the cameras rolling. That’s bullsh*t! Somebody gotta say, so I’m gonna say it.”
Smith went on to say James was correct about Miami’s roster construction, but by making such a point, he was deflecting from his own poor performance being the real reason the Heat lost.
“That was not about your roster. That was about you,” Smith said at one point in his monologue, all of which you can see here:
Smith is right that LeBron hugely underperformed in the 2011 Finals. That much is indisputable.
James averaged 17.8 points per game across the series, which was a far cry from his season average of 26.7 points per game.
As Smith pointed out, James was especially poor in Game 4, finishing with just 8 points on 3-11 shooting, and zero points in the fourth quarter.
READ MORE: LeBron James Tells Story About Getting Kicked Out of Practice