Mario Chalmers is one of the few NBA players who shone alongside LeBron James as a teammate, winning rings in both 2012 and 2013. The former teammate of James was recently on the Run It Back podcast, where he opened up about a legendary moment he had with LeBron James during a match against Paul George and the Pacers.
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Back in December of 2013, the Miami Heat were hosting the Indiana Pacers at the Kaseya Centre. The Heat were looking to go back-to-back, and Paul George and the Pacers were a roadblock in the way of achieving that. During their December 18th meeting, LeBron and the Heat were looking sloppy, as PG3 was torching them from the tip.
After a defensive miscommunication between James and Chalmers, the duo found themselves jawing at each other on the bench during the next time out. Chalmers revealed that the management made the duo patch up after the incident. Talking about it further, Chalmers said,
“We talked about it, the organization made us talk about it, just made sure everything was smooth….they made sure that I was not going to say nothing crazy in the media.”
The duo of Chalmers and LeBron would go onto win two Championships together, putting aside any on court difference the two might have had. It makes sense that the Heat organization asked Chalmers to extend the Olive Branch after the incident, as it’s no secret that LeBron was the face of not only the team, but of the league, and the Heat would have liked to retain him past his 2014 contract.
The mission with Miami is always winning, and they like to do it with a certain culture and chemistry, so it’s no surprise that the Heat thought it necessary, that their players squash their beef as soon as possible, privately.
The situation between Chalmers and LeBron James
The Miami Heat had an epic run between 2011-2014, bagging two Championships in the process. But a common criticism that the Heat often faced was that their stars were too passive, especially LeBron James. LeBron who was undoubtedly the best player in the early 2010’s, often faced extreme media scrutiny, as he took reigns of the Miami Heat offense.
The Heat bagged the 2012 Championship but still hadn’t reached their potential quite yet, as Wade, Bosh and LeBron were still playing a “you first” style of basketball. Chalmers, who was a role player on the team, didn’t appreciate the passive playstyle and even decided to call LeBron out on one occasion.
During a match against the Pacers back in December 2013, Chalmers chewed LeBron out on the bench, after the duo had a serious miscommunication on the defensive end. Recalling the incident, Chalmers told a media correspondent,
“I told him to stop playing like a b**ch. At that moment, everybody was just complaining and nobody wanted to take accountability.”
These comments from Chalmers ended up breaking the ice between LeBron and the rest of the team, as the King went off, leading the Heat to a 97-94 victory over the Pacers.
