LeBron James Outmuscled By Former Lakers Legend

James confronted one of the few people to appear in the NBA Finals more than he has.

Pat Riley knows a thing or two about culture.

The former Los Angeles Lakers role player-turned-broadcaster-turned coach enjoyed a lot of memorable moments in LA, both with the Jerry West/Wilt Chamberlain/Elgin Baylor Lakers and later in leading the Showtime Lakers. He's been a basketball force in his next two stops as well. As the team president for the Miami Heat, he's just helped take Miami to its seventh NBA Finals under his care.

All told, Riley is heading to his 19th NBA Finals on Thursday as a player, coach, or executive. 

Los Angeles Lakers All-NBA small forward LeBron James has appeared in 10 NBA Finals himself, including stints both with Riley's Heat and in LA.

The two didn't always see eye-to-eye during James' time in Miami.

Michael Lombardi of ViSN and The Daily Coach spoke with Bill Simmons of The Ringer on the latter's eponymous podcast about the infamous moment James tried to get head coach Erik Spoelstra fired during James' first season with the team, in 2010-11.

"Look, there's so many great Riley stories because Riley believes in culture," Lombardi said. "This is a story - this isn't a fact, but it's fairly reliable - that players went in to complain about Spoelstra. And he went downstairs and told everybody downstairs, 'I'll be in there in 15 minutes.'"

"He made them all line up against the wall," Lombardi continued. "And basically, all the mega-superstars that were there, he told every one of them, 'You don't ever come in my office and tell me to fire a coach. Your job is to play basketball.' That's culture!"

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