LeBron James Apologizes For Shouting At Tristan Thompson During OT Timeout Vs Pacers

LeBron James has apologized to teammate Tristan Thompson for yelling at him in a timeout huddle during  the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ 135-130 double-overtime home victory over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night.

LeBron James Is Sorry For Yelling At Tristan Thompson in last-minute Timeout vs Pacers

The shouting match— which seemed to involve Thompson screaming more at James than the other way around — began after James seemed frustrated with poor defensive coverages on Paul George, who at one point in overtime scored 16 straight points for the Pacers and finished with 43 points.

James, who scored 41 points and had 16 rebounds, was George’s main defender, but Indiana was running plays that forced Thompson to switch to George.

Shortly after Cavs forward Kevin Love scored a crucial 3-pointer for a four-point lead (131-127) with 26 seconds remaining in the second overtime, James and Thompson began heatedly arguing. James even waved off coach Tyronn Lue when he attempted to calm James down.

Watch the altercation here:

 

Immediately following the game, James voiced regret for his actions.

“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.”

James elaborated on this in the locker room by complimenting Thompson, in part.

“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.”

Following James’ apology to Thompson in the locker room, Cavs general manager David Griffin briefly spoke to Thompson before the center addressed reporters, saying the scuffle just happened because of a simple misunderstanding.

“We’re family. Little miscommunication in the huddle. Move forward. Move forward. We’re family. Got each other’s back always. Move forward,” Thompson said. “Not going to get into (the reasons), just miscommunication, like I said. Move forward. It is what it is. Got the win.”

James and Thompson share the same agent and are close friends off the court: they generally spend time together socially, including working out together.

Although the Cavs won their game and James and Thompson both acknowledged their verbal fight was resolved, the mood in the team’s locker room was visibly sour. Kyrie Irving, who scored 23 points, left without speaking to the press for the second time in a week.

Cleveland (49-27) are now tied with Boston in the loss column for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. The Cavs have the tiebreaker now, although the teams will play on Wednesday in Boston, and the winner will control the tiebreaker.

CLEVELAND, OH – JUNE 08: LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers shoots the ball during the second half against the Golden State Warriors in Game 3 of the 2016 NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena on June 8, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio.