"He (Bird) said, 'Don't do it again" - Lance Stephenson on how Larry Bird put him in check after blowing into LeBron James' ear

“He (Bird) said, ‘Don’t do it again” – Lance Stephenson on how Larry Bird put him in check after blowing into LeBron James’ ear originally appeared on Basketball Network.

In May 2014, Lance Stephenson found himself called into the boss’s office. Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird wanted a word.

It wasn’t the first time Stephenson’s on-court antics had made waves, but this one went beyond even his own standards. Whatever the reason, it was enough for Bird to call him in and set him straight.

From flops to ear-blows

Game 5 of that year’s Eastern Conference Finals produced one of the strangest moments in NBA history.

Team-wise, the Pacers were battling the Miami Heat. Player-wise, Stephenson was locked in a heated duel with opposing superstar LeBron James.

All series long, the Pacers guard tried everything to throw the league’s reigning MVP off his game – hard fouls, flops, trash talk. In Game 5, he switched tactics. Late in the action, Lance leaned in and softly blew into Bron’s ear.

Following that “attack,” LBJ rolled his eyes and shook his head, seemingly unfazed. Still, while the move looked absurdly out of place, it might have worked – after all, Indiana rallied from a halftime deficit to steal a 93–90 win while Miami’s key player struggled mightily.

The Pacers were back in the series, with the Heat leading 3-2, yet Bird, in his second stint as team president, wasn’t amused. Before Game 6, Stephenson told reporters that, after he was pulled aside, the NBA legend had shared a few choice words with him.

“He (Bird) said, ‘Don’t do it again,’ so I’m not going to do it again,” said Stephenson following shootaround, per ESPN.

That same game, Lance had also pulled off a blatant flop, earning his second fine of the series for the same offense. A repeat offender, yet he vowed to improve, insisting that “Larry Legend’s” advice would, as always, guide him.

“He’s kept me on the right path my whole career, and if he says something to me, I take it to heart,” remarked the New York native.

The Pacers’ antics

Seeing Lance blow in an opponent’s ear looked bizarre to many, but for players from earlier eras like Larry, it must have seemed even stranger.

Just remember that back in the 1980s, at the height of his storied Boston Celtics career, something like that would have been unthinkable. Sure, antics existed, but they were more physical, relentless, and rooted in fierce trash talk – one of Bird’s specialties – rather than theatrical stunts.

With that in mind, it’s interesting to imagine how “Larry Legend” would have reacted to being at the receiving end of such a stunt, just as “King James” had been.

“There probably would’ve been a fight,” Stephenson said. “But this is a different type of game from the ’90s. You can’t throw blows.”

Ultimately, moments like managing Stephenson after that incident cast Bird more as a kindergarten teacher than a team president. This was especially true during his first stint from 2003 to 2012, when Indiana’s players were infamous for chaos both on and off the court. The Malice at the Palace was the most extreme example, but the ever-giving antics of players like Metta Sandiford-Artest and Stephen Jackson show there were plenty more.

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Aug 19, 2025, where it first appeared.

“He (Bird) said, ‘Don’t do it again” – Lance Stephenson on how Larry Bird put him in check after blowing into LeBron James’ ear

Tags: