In a radio interview yesterday, Reggie Evans claimed his message for LeBron James and the Heat was lost in translation.
The Nets power forward, appearing on SiriusXM’s “Off The Dribble,” said he didn’t knock the fact the Heat claimed last season’s title at the end of a lockout shortened season before Wednesday’s blowout loss to the Heat.
“I didn’t say it didn’t prove anything,” Evans said. “Those were not my exact words. I said they won a championship in a lockout season. That’s what I said. That was really about it.
“I never said they did not prove anything. I just said they won a championship in a lockout season. That was it. I guess people just took it out of proportion, that’s all.”
Evans also said, “One thing about me, when I’m going to talk about you, I’m going to pretty much say it to your face. I’m not going to go in the media and say it through the media. It was kind of hilarious to me, because I think it was just blown out of proportion.”
Evans was asked by a reporter before Wednesday’s loss to Miami what it would mean to beat the defending-champion Heat.
“It doesn’t prove nothing,” Evans said. “That was a lockout season.”
James cruised to 24 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in an easy 105-85 Heat win — giving the Heat three wins in three games against the Nets this year — and made it clear afterward he had used Evans’ comments as motivation.
“You can’t just come out and say something like that to a champion,” James said. “No one knows what it takes unless you’ve done it.
“You can’t sit here and judge and talk about a team winning a championship unless you’ve done it. He hasn’t done it.”