Quentin Richardson Explains His Beef With LeBron James

Despite the Magic’s furious rally to win the game, the Orlando/Miami preseason tilt last night was a snoozer for the most part, but Q-Rich and LeBron did their best to keep things lively by bumping into one another a few times. Richardson explains the beef to the Orlando Sentinel: “That’s me. That’s just the way I play. Somebody push you, you push back,’ [Q-Rich] said Wednesday night after the Magic’s preseason-ending win against the Heat at Amway Center. James had glared at the Orlando bench after hitting a shot. Q-Rich slowed enough that James made contact, and then the 260-pound LeBron rammed his shoulder into Q as they walked down the court, and Q angrily responded. It really should have been a double-technical foul, but refs caught Q retaliating and T’d him up. ‘I don’t care if you’re The King or whatever,’ Richardson laughed. ‘You put your pants on just like I do. He still got 27 points, but you have to let him know that he has to fight for them. That it ain’t gonna be a walk in the park.’ Said LeBron, ‘I don’t know … I’m just trying to play the game of basketball. That’s what that was all about.’ Richardson said he would have come back at any player who did what James did.”