Paul George was not happy with Lance Stephenson for trying to get under LeBron James' skin -“What the f**k you doing?”

Former Indiana Pacers wing Lance Stephenson was known to be an agitator, especially come playoff time. Most notably, Stephenson infamously blew in the ear of former Miami Heat superstar forward LeBron James during Game 5 of the 2014 Eastern Conference finals.

This proved to be one of the defining moments of Stephenson’s career. However, according to his former Pacers co-star Paul George, it may have been detrimental to both him and the team.

During a recent episode of his podcast, “Podcast P, with Paul George,” George spoke about the aftermath of Lance Stephenson taunting LeBron James:

“The reason Lance was on Bron for those moments was because I was in foul trouble,” George said.

“But, for the series, I’m guarding Bron. So, I was like, ‘Bro, what the f**k you doing?’

George continued:

“But, I thought it raised our intensity of like, ‘We’re not backing down to y’all.’ I thought we stood behind Lance after he did that. Opposed to, like, getting on him about it or breaking up about it. I thought we backed him up and it made us just raise the intensity.”

Indiana went on to win Game 5 against Miami 93-90. However, the Pacers ended up getting blown out 117-92 in Game 6 to lose the series, 4-2. This would prove to be Indiana’s last deep playoff run in the Paul George era. The Pacers have yet to make it past the first round since.

Lance Stephenson on why he blew in LeBron James’ ear

Former LA Lakers teammates LeBron James and Lance Stephenson

In 2018, after Lance Stephenson signed with LeBron James’ LA Lakers, he spoke about his infamous taunt of James. As many expected, Stephenson said that he blew in James’ ear because he was just trying to make him frustrated:

“There were a lot of serious moments in the season where we were talking junk, going after each other,” Stephenson told theScore.

“I was really trying to get him mad — like, really trying to win the game, get him unfocused, and I was trying anything.”

However, Stephenson added that James didn’t have any reaction to his taunt:

“For you to do something to somebody and they don't respond, they keep continuing and playing hard, it's like, ‘Yo, what, how do I get in this ... how do I?’ — But LeBron was such a good player. I was just trying to do anything to get him frustrated,” Stephenson said.

When asked if he regrets his decision to blow in James’ ear, Stephenson said that he doesn’t. However, he added that he sometimes looks back in confusion on the moment:

"I don't regret it, but sometimes I look at it, like, why did I do that? What made me do that? ... It's going to be different being friends with LeBron,” Stephenson said.

Also read: “Trying to figure LeBron out” – Draymond Green reveals details on his mid-game conversations with Steph Curry