“Sit your a** down mom!”: LeBron James yelled at his own mother to not get involved between him and Paul Pierce during Cavaliers-Celtics ECSF in 2008

LeBron James had to yell at Gloria James, his own mother, to sit down with the use of some expletives after she yelled at Paul Pierce from the stands. 

The rivalry between LeBron James and Paul Pierce ran deep. More so than it being a straight up feud between James and Pierce, it was the former duking it out against the entirety of the Boston Celtics during the era where they would constantly make it to the Playoffs with their ‘Big 3’. 

There was an instance during a 2004 preseason game that saw ‘The Truth’ spit towards the Cavaliers bench, leading to a fight nearly taking place between James and himself in the locker room following the game.

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Instances of a fight between the two would simmer down for years to come with them patching up at subsequent All-Star Games.  

However, as the Celtics signed both Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in the summer of ‘07 and LeBron James carried his Cavaliers to deep Playoff runs without any help, the two squads would meet in the postseason multiple times. 

LeBron James had to tell his mother to ‘sit her a** down’. 

The first time LeBron James met the mighty Celtics in the Playoffs was the first year that the ‘big 3’ had formed. This Eastern Conference SemiFinals matchup went down to the wire with them going to 7 games. Game 7 was decided by merely 5 points with the Celts coming out on top. 

LeBron and Paul Pierce went buck for bucket during that Game 7 with the former going for 45 points and Pierce dropping 41 of his own. 

En route to having this enticing finale to the series, Game 4 saw quite the scuffle take place between the two players. During one particular play, Pierce wrapped up James from getting an easy one at the rim, with them spilling into the stands.

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They happened to show up right next to Gloria James, James’s mother, who was yelling at Pierce for fouling her son. Motherly instincts so totally understandable. ‘The King’ however, felt embarrassed and shockingly told Gloria to ‘Sit you’re a** down’. 

“I used some language I shouldn’t have. I’m glad it wasn’t Mother’s Day,” said James following his expletive response to his mother’s actions. 

Pierce kept it lighthearted after the incident and was asked who would win in a fight: his mom or James’ mom, to which he said, “I don’t know. My momma’s a little older but she’s old school. She’s got some tactics.”