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LeBron, Tristan Thompson have heated argument on bench during Cavs' 2OT win over Pacers

dan devine
Senior NBA writer

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers staged an instant classic on Sunday, with LeBron James and Paul George needing four quarters and two overtimes to determine a victor in a war between two of the NBA’s very best players. Late in the second extra session, though, the most heated battle on the court featured LeBron and one of his teammates:

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With just under one minute remaining in double-OT, LeBron stepped into a straightaway 3-point bomb that splashed through the net to give the Cavs a 128-124 lead over the hard-charging Pacers at Quicken Loans Arena. As he had throughout the game, and especially in overtime, George answered right back, cutting away from James as Indy center Myles Turner plastered the four-time NBA Most Valuable Player with a screen, which gave George enough room to take a pass from Jeff Teague, raise up and knock down an in-rhythm triple that got the deficit back to one with 49.7 seconds left.

Nearly as soon as the ball left George’s hands, you could see both James and Cavs center Tristan Thompson, who had been guarding Turner, raise their hands as if both were wondering how the hell that had just happened, perhaps indicating that each thought the other had botched the coverage:

LeBron James and Tristan Thompson are confused. (Screencap via NBA)
LeBron James and Tristan Thompson are confused. (Screencap via NBA)

Despite the miscommunication, the Cavs came up with a response on the other end, running a James-Kyrie Irving pick-and-roll that forced a switch. LeBron backed the smaller Teague down at the right elbow, worked his way into the paint, and fired a pass out to Kevin Love on the left wing for an open 3 that found the bottom of the net with 26.5 seconds left:

That proved to be the game-winner in the Cavs’ thrilling 135-130 victory … but after the play, which prompted an Indiana timeout, James and Thompson could be seen laying into one another in the Cleveland huddle:

After the game, which improved the Cavs to 49-27 and kept them a half-game back of the Boston Celtics for the No. 1 spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, cooler heads prevailed, and James said he’d been in the wrong, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com:

Immediately after the game, James expressed remorse.

“I have to do a better job of not showing up my teammates out on the floor. I had the right intentions in my mind, but I had the wrong intentions come out of my mouth,” James told Fox Sports Ohio on the court after the game ended. “I take full responsibility for that as the leader of the team. So I got to be a lot better at that and be able to keep that in-house in the locker room and when we’re watching film.”

In the locker room, James expanded on his thoughts:

“I was a little bit too demonstrative at that point in the game,” James said. “He worked hard for our team, he’s a big-time player … but the way it came out was — it didn’t look good on TV.”

Apparently, it still wasn’t coming off too great in the locker room after the game. From Joe Vardon of cleveland.com:

Thompson was obviously upset after the game, and didn’t wait for James to finish his session with reporters before he answered a few questions from the much smaller gathering surrounding him. He was gone before James was done speaking. […]

“We’re family,” Thompson said. “Little miscommunication in the huddle. Move forward. Move forward. We’re family. Got each other’s back always. Move forward.”

Asked if the disagreement stemmed from a frustration over defensive coverages, Thompson said, “Not going to get into it.”

“It is what it is. Got the win, on to Orlando,” Thompson said.

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Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue, eager to put the disagreement behind him, cracked wise about the heated conversation during his postgame press conference.

“That shows you that we care about our defense,” he said with a laugh that carried with it the weight of a months-long struggle to get stops that has seen the defending NBA champions rank 26th out of 30 NBA teams in points allowed per possession since Jan. 1, and 29th since the All-Star break. “You know, the game’s on the line. You want to win. Paul George makes a tough shot, you get into it. It’s part of the game. You like to see that passion a lot of times. Take it out on the other team, though. They both were mad and frustrated, but that’s what you want to see. We wanted to win that game. It was a big play. Some miscommunication right there, you know, but they got over it.”

So, who was actually at fault on the play that sparked the shouting match? From Vardon:

Lue explained the coverage, in which the Cavs were trying to “top lock” George with James. In those instances, Thompson is supposed to fall back. Both players rushed George on the first 3 of the second overtime, and both fell back on the second.

“My fault. It was my fault,” Lue said. “Blame it on me.”

The Cavs’ next chance to get their assignments in a row comes Tuesday, when they welcome the Orlando Magic to Quicken Loans Arena. After that, they’ll leave Cleveland to fly to Massachusetts for the second game of a back-to-back on the road against the Celtics that will determine the head-to-head tiebreaker between the two teams — the Cavs hold a 2-1 lead heading into Wednesday — and could decide which squad lands home-court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!