Jae Crowder has been on a tear in terms of confrontations with LeBron James of late, particularly on social media.
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The Phoenix Suns made the second round of the NBA playoffs after ‘upsetting’ the defending champion Lakers Thursday night. They capitalized fully on the absence of Anthony Davis to put the Lakers away emphatically in Games 4, 5 and 6.
One of the important factors in their path to success was the stout defense their forwards played on LeBron James. Jae Crowder, Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson all did a phenomenal job on the King whenever they got this assignment. Crowder, in particular, was matched up a ton with both LeBron and Anthony Davis.
This isn’t the first time that Crowder has received the LeBron assignment in his career. He’s already faced him in 3 past series – twice with Boston and last year’s Finals with Miami. Consequentially, there’s been a ton of trash talk, a ton of give and take from both sides.
Crowder has finished on the losing side the past 3 times despite his best efforts. That’s perhaps the reason why he’s so upbeat about finally getting over the hump.
Jae Crowder cleverly uses a LeBron James tweet against him
Anthony Davis had put the Suns to the sword in a regular season contest back in May. This was at the time when James sat the game out with injury and AD had put up some monster numbers to help the Lakers past Phoenix.
James had put out this cryptic tweet in the wake of this performance.
It’s all fun and games until the 🐰 got the gun! 😡😤😡😤👑
— LeBron James (@KingJames) May 7, 2021
It seems that Jae Crowder was referencing this in his own social media post following the Suns’ series win. At least, that’s what it seems like from the pic carousel he posted on Instagram. Comprised solely of moments where he ‘owns’ LeBron. Go figure.
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With all due respect to LeBron James, do you ever think Michael Jordan would’ve been slandered like this in the social media era? This is top tier banter from the Suns forward, and NBA fans are absolutely lapping it up. NBA Twitter has thrown up some real gems:
oh dear. pic.twitter.com/7fWoQHYnQR
— Kawob Leonard (@WorldWideWob) June 4, 2021
— Kawob Leonard (@WorldWideWob) June 4, 2021
that CP3 one so subtle yet so effective. hit him with it twice too just in case. https://t.co/yE6iedhMXa
— Kawob Leonard (@WorldWideWob) June 4, 2021
they either had this shit rehearsed or it was one hell of a coincidence they all pulled out different receipts at the same time pic.twitter.com/scThfQMQCK
— Kawob Leonard (@WorldWideWob) June 4, 2021
“don’t think about calling me a p***y. aint nobody calling me a bitch. put some respect on my name. that’s it. that’s it. that’s it.” pic.twitter.com/vC6SUI4NVn
— Kawob Leonard (@WorldWideWob) June 4, 2021
We urge you to enjoy this rivalry to your heart’s content. It’ll be great fun if the two teams run it back and clash in next year’s playoffs.