Paul George was a vital component to the two Eastern Conference Finals teams that were a few breaks away from making the NBA finals. The teams consisted of Roy Hibbert anchoring the paint, David West being the enforcer, and George Hill being the floor general.
In recent weeks, Dillon Brooks has been front and center in the NBA basketball universe for taunting LeBron James, who then turned around and eliminated Brooks and the Grizzlies in six games. Brooks was then told by Memphis that he would not be offered another contract with the team. Needless to say, it’s been a tough couple of week for Dillon.
However, Paul George on his podcast mentioned that the antics of Dillon Brooks in recent weeks was reminiscent of Lance Stephenson and his infamous incident of blowing in LeBron James ear, who was a member of the Miami Heat at the time.
"“I was like, ‘Bro, what the (expletive) you doing?’ But, I thought it raised our intensity of like, ‘We’re not backing down to y’all!’ I thought we stood behind Lance after he did that. Opposed to like getting on him about it or breaking up about it. I thought we backed him up and it made for us to just raise the intensity.”"
George contrasted the difference between the fact that the Pacers team at the time baked Stephenson and his antics up, while Memphis teammates seemingly didn’t have Brooks’ back after the incident with LeBron. The difference being obvious, as Lance was continued to be beloved by the Pacers and Pacers’ fans, while Brooks is now on his way out the door.
Is it every worth taunting the best player in the world and a generational talent like LeBron James?
Well, it’s good to give a sense of toughness, but it also may not be smart to poke the bear when it comes to LeBron James. Brooks learned the price the hard way, while Stephenson enjoyed continue support from his Pacers’ teammates.