LeBron a flopper? Lucas isn't sure - ESPN (blog)

Dennis Wierzbicki/US PresswireJohn Lucas scored a team-high 24 points in a win over the Heat on March 14.

Chicago Bulls guard John Lucas III wouldn't say Miami Heat forward LeBron James is a flopper, but he did sense theatrical embellishment on James' part to Tyson Chandler's screen on Saturday.

The reason it caught Lucas' attention was because James set an equally punishing screen on Lucas on April 19 in Miami. No foul was called on the screen, but the 5-11, 165-pound Lucas had to be kept from going after the 6-8, 250-pound James. Lucas and James -- who after the game said "I knew I had him" -- both received technicals, which prompted James to yell "For what?"

"I thought he threw his left shoulder into me a little bit, and then I look up and Tyson Chandler set a clean screen on him, and he took it like he just got shot," Lucas said Wednesday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000. "You got to get back up.

"All that like your neck is hurt, that isn't cool."

Chandler was called for a Flagrant 2 foul that was downgraded to a Flagrant 1 in the New York Knicks' Game 1 loss. ESPN analyst and former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said during the broadcast that he didn't think it was a flagrant foul at all.

Lucas was asked if James is a flopper.

"If that's what you want to say, I don't know," Lucas said. "I just watch the game of basketball like everyone else watches the game of basketball. I feel like when you set a screen like that on somebody, you're taking the risk of hurting that person. For him, I felt he threw his left shoulder. I let him know that wasn't going to fly with me."

Lucas and James had a little history before the screen. Lucas hit a shot over James on March 14 and had some words for the two-time MVP as Lucas' 24 points sparked the Bulls to victory.

With Derrick Rose out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL, Lucas again had to step up in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals on Tuesday as he scored 15 points off the bench. But the Philadelphia 76ers evened the series with a 109-92 victory.

Without Rose, it will take an impressive effort for Lucas and the Bulls to get a rematch with James and the Heat in the Eastern Conference finals.

"I want to get there, because I feel like we have unfinished business from last year," Lucas said. "Me and LeBron, that's nothing for me, I'm more about winning and getting to the championship."