LeBron James had seen enough.
The Miami Heat forward watched his team fall behind by four points at halftime to the Indiana Pacers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals Thursday night, and with his team in danger of going down 3-2 in the series, he put matters into his own hands — and mouth.
In an attempt to spark his teammates, James went on a profanity-laced rant right before the start of the second half, which was caught by TNT’s cameras. The network blurred out his choice words, but you get the picture.
The speech seemed to work as the Heat outscored the Pacers 30-13 in the third quarter — which included 16 points from James — en route to their 90-79 victory. After the game, James told TNT’s Craig Sager that he wasn’t happy with his team’s sense of urgency.
“What kept us in the game in the first half was our talent, and that’s not what we’re about,” James said. “We didn’t play with a sense of urgency, and we were only down four, and that wasn’t a good sign. So I just got in them and let them know that we can’t just play by talent.”
Message received.
