LeBron James Annoyed By Danny Granger’s ‘Stupid’ Trash Talk
Bill Hanstock is a writer, author and Emmy Award-winning producer. He began writing for SB Nation in 2011.
Danny Granger has raised some eyebrows among fans over the past few games by getting in the faces of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade after fouls. Granger has drawn technical fouls for these actions, but it appears the Miami Heat stars are wise to what he's trying to do ... and they don't care for it.
According to Brian Windhorst of ESPN, the Miami players had choice words for Granger after Game 4.
“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.
“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.”
Wade also had some thoughts on the matter:
“I’m all for standing up for your guys, but certain things you just can’t keep doing,” Wade said. “My message to Granger was that you just can’t keep running up into people’s faces for altercations. We’re not fighting on this basketball court, so let’s not act like we’re going to fight. We can be physical and do all that, but certain things got to stop. Are you out here to play basketball or are you out here to be a tough guy?”
When asked about his tactics, Granger had this to say:
“I think there is a line and I’m tip-toeing it,” Granger said. “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.”
We’ll see whether Granger tries the same approach on Tuesday in Game 5.
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