It took a few games, but now we’re getting some real playoff passion and disgust for the other team going.
For three straight games Danny Granger has gotten in the face of either LeBron James or Dwyane Wade, in an effort to show he and the Pacers were not going to back down from the Heat. In three straight games Granger has picked up a technical for it. It was part of the Pacers overall style to be more physical and to be pesky in this series and get under the Heat’s skin.
LeBron isn’t impressed. From ESPN:
“Whatever he’s trying, it is not working,” James said Tuesday before Game 5. “He’s said he’s not scared of LeBron, I want to let (James) know. I guess he’s doing it for his own psyche. It’s stupid.”
Granger played the “we’re not respected” card.
“That’s a product of the chip on my shoulder and we have on our shoulder as a team of not being respected. That goes not just for this series, but all year. We had the fourth or fifth best record in the NBA and I think we only had one televised game. Three or four teams that didn’t make the playoffs had more televised games than us. It was just a matter of being disrespected nationally.”
This will not be settled like it would be in the NHL playoffs, James said.
“Nobody is fighting on the basketball court. C’mon,” he said. “I’m not going to fight because I mean too much to our team and I can’t afford to be suspended for a game or do something stupid to get thrown out of a playoff game.”
Expect more posturing in Game 5. But LeBron is right in that it’s more for show and self motivation than anything else.
