DeShawn Stevenson might be one of the reasons why LeBron James averaged 17.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists in 6 games in the 2011 NBA Finals
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The “Wh*re of Akron,” as dubbed by Esquire’s Scott Raab, “We Are All Witnesses to a Fraud” a Bleacher Report article after the Mavericks won Game 5 in the 2011 NBA Finals and a million other critiques obliterated LeBron James after losing the Championship to Dirk Nowitzki and Co.
Even after winning 4 championships since then, apart from his 4 MVPs, 18 All-Star appearances, 18 All-NBA selections, over 37k points, 10k rebounds, and 10k assists, he hasn’t been able to cover those tracks which still reads “the greatest bust” to many.
The year that followed “The Decision” is the biggest barrier to The King’s 19-year career being declared as the best. Because whoever has Jordan over him in the GOAT debate says MJ never played a Game 7 in the Finals while James lost it while playing in arguably the greatest team of all time.
One of the most famous LBJ-critique, actor and comedian Michael Rapaport, thoroughly enjoyed that failure and ran circles around the NBA media taking and giving interviews saying atrocious things about James.
Michael Rapaport interviewed DeShawn Stevenson in which he revealed what he said to LeBron James in the 2011 Finals
In his 13-year NBA career, DeShawn Stevenson was nowhere close to the player a high school James was, but the man played his heart out whenever he played the basketball juggernaut.
Their rivalry dated back to James’ first few years in the league when D-Steve played alongside Gilbert Arenas in Washington. He might be the man who brought out the Jordan and Kobe in LeBron, who otherwise never was or is a trash-talker.
In one of their Playoffs series in 2008, even Jay-Z got involved in the two players’ beef. But James later publicly “There is no DeShawn-LeBron rivalry…,” in trying to settle down the unnecessary hype he was giving to Stevenson.
But “The Locksmith” will soon have his revenge when he moved to the Mavericks in the very same year they would deny James, D-Wade and Chris Bosh their first championship. Destiny.
He played a massive role in stopping the James dynamic duo of James and Wade.
One of the unsung heroes of modern NBA Finals history is DeShawn Stevenson in the Mavs’ 2011 title over the Heat.
In 103 minutes, he shot 54.2% from the field, 56.5% from three, and played ELITE wing defense on LeBron and Wade.
Unreal +46 net rating, 81.5% TS, and 81.3% eFG. pic.twitter.com/WUioqj0PQq
— Lance Smith (@LanceSmithTPC) November 14, 2018
But it was also what he said that might have tickled something in James’ otherwise brilliant mind, that he had his career’s worst playoff series at the worst possible time. Here is DeShawn revealing what he said to the King before a tip-off in the NBA Finals in a hilarious interview with Michael Rapaport.
