Immediately following the game, James was forced to apologize both publicly and privately to teammate Tristan Thompson, who James had yelled at repeatedly during the game over issues he had with Thompson’s help defense. James was tasked with defending Paul George for large parts of the game, and grew frustrated with Thompson’s switching during some pick-and-roll situations. George finished with 43 points, and scored 16 consecutive points for the Pacers at one point in overtime.

During the closing seconds of the game, James and Thompson were shown to be screaming at each other in the huddle, as teammates and coach Ty Lue looked on helplessly.

"I have to do a better job of not showing up my teammates out on the floor. I had the right intentions in my mind, but I had the wrong intentions come out of my mouth," James told Fox Sports Ohio in an interview on the court after the final whistle. "I take full responsibility for that as the leader of the team. So I got to be a lot better at that and be able to keep that in-house in the locker room and when we're watching film."