Facing Kevin Durant, leading without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, LeBron James had enough reasons to ball out against the Houston Rockets. But the Los Angeles Lakers superstar had extra motivation coming his way. As the 30-year-old forward Jae’Sean Tate forgot about Bron’s history but learned his lesson very quickly.

In the second frame, the Lakers already had a 10-point lead with more than 10 minutes still to play. The Purple and Gold franchise had possession, and Tate tried to contain LeBron James, a method that had failed before. The Rockets forward got overly physical with the 41-year-old, grabbing his arm, and had one point, which bent in an unusual way. Lakers teammate Jaxson Hayes came in, set the screen, and helped in separation, and once Bron was separated, he did what he does best.

James broke free and hit a big shot, with the crowd erupting as the Lakers led the Rockets 39-26. A Twitter user posted this 28-second clip captioned “oh what have you done,” and soon the fans started questioning the same. It concluded with a raging LeBron shouting at Sengun and reminding him that such physical plays won’t stop him anytime soon. The replies highlighted the narrative “don’t poke the bear” moment, including KD’s intense sideline reaction and even LeBron James entering beast mode after the provocation.

As stated earlier, the 22x All-Star did not need extra motivation; he came in hot after the Game 1 exploits of 19 points and 13 assists.

He began with 6 points in the first frame and was 2-3 from the FG. His contributions were not limited to scoring; he created 2 chances, grabbed 3 rebounds, and even stole from Kevin Durant. And before drilling that three-pointer after Tate’s physical display, Bron already hit a 27-foot running pull-up jump shot to start the second frame.

He ended that quarter with 8 more points, and by the end of the third frame, LeBron James was truly leading his team with 19 points and on the night was only trailing KD’s 21 points. Some fans brought out the historical performance, and others just questioned the decision-making of the Rockets’ star Tate.

Netizens warned that Tate’s display would lead to consequences from LeBron James

Without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, Bron knew he had to be the scorer but also create for his teammates. After 13 assists in Game 1, The King had 2 in the first quarter and 4 more in the third frame, after the moment with Tate. So, James was truly locked in. The fans knew this would happen and wrote, “Tate done poked the bear.” Not just tweets from the netizens but even Kevin Durant’s face on the bench suggested that it was a mistake.

The broadcast cut to KD’s reaction as LeBron James dropped the three-pointer over Sengun’s head. And fans didn’t miss this and commented, “The look on KD’s face at the end says everything you need to know.” Another one had a similar sentiment, “Even KD was like oh f—“. Because Durant has experienced this before. In the 2012 NBA Finals, Young KD led the Thunder to a Game 1 win, but the Miami Heat won the series.

LeBron dropped his finals-high 32 points in Game 2 and 26 points, 9 rebounds, and 12 assists in Game 5 to close out the Finals. Fans remembered more such moments and wrote, “Why do they do that again and again No lessons learned past 25 years.” The past twenty-five years might be a stretch, but LeBron James has been dominating and is not afraid to respond to trash-talking. In the 2010 Playoffs, the then-Cavaliers star was on the receiving end of constant chirping as the Bulls bench dared him to shoot more jumpers instead of driving in the paint.

This was not a mere challenge, but King James was not afraid and finished with 40 points on the back of his raining jumpers. After the game, LeBron stated, “They asked me to shoot… I did that, over and over.” Another fan brought the recent example of how Dillon Brooks has failed while stopping James. “Tate is trying to be Dillon Brooks but hasn’t realized Bron still beats up on him too.”

During the 2023 Playoffs, Brooks had his infamous trash talk and called the then 38-year-old LeBron “old,” and stated, “I poke bears.” He even got overly physical, including swatting the ball at LeBron. But LeBron James dropped 40 points as the Lakers won by 40 in a blowout, and took the series in 6. Since Jae’Sean Tate did not learn from these moments, Bron ended up Game 2 by leading the night with 28 points as the Lakers won 101-94.