Before the game, LeBron James walked into the visiting locker room announcing his presence to everyone. “He here! He here!” James screamed in the third person.
After Heat 105, Nets 85 on Wednesday at Barclays Center, James was still talking. Turns out, the comments Nets forward Reggie Evans made about James and the Heat before the game struck a nerve.
Evans indicated on Wednesday morning that the merits of the Miami’s 2012 championship were somehow diminished because the Heat won the title during a lockout-shortened season. James didn’t like it.
“No one knows what it takes unless you’ve done it,” James said. “You can’t sit here and judge and talk about a team winning a championship unless you’ve been through it and actually done it. He hasn't done it.
“I’m not going to sit here and give Reggie Evans a lot of press because that’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to give him a lot of press and people going to talk about Reggie Evans for the next couple of days when he probably wouldn’t be talked about.”
But James couldn’t help himself. He still wanted to talk about Evans.
“You can’t just come out and say something like that against a champion…Let me look at his numbers,” James said.
He then theatrically looked down to a stat sheet resting on top of the bucket of ice soaking his feet and ankles.
“Hold on,” James said, “I’m looking at Reggie Evans’ numbers real quick. He had no offensive rebounds, so we did our number on him, and we got the win more importantly.”
James had 24 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in 34 minutes.
Evans, for his part, exited the Nets’ post-game locker room before reporters could ask him questions.
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