MIAMI — The Oklahoma City Thunder had to play a little defense Tuesday before Game 4, on behalf of their defensive star.
    Does Serge Ibaka really think LeBron James is a poor defender?
    Ibaka said it Monday, injecting some trash talk into the middle of the NBA Finals.
    Ibaka was quoted as saying: "LeBron is not a good defender. He can play defense for two to three minutes but not 48 minutes. LeBron can't play (Kevin Durant) one on one."
    James, the leading vote-getter on the All-Defensive team, has already said it's impossible to stop a player such as Durant for an entire game, so perhaps that's what Ibaka meant.
    "Serge believes in me and he believes in what we do here, so he's just taking up for me and taking up for our whole team," Durant said.
    Ibaka didn't talk after the Thunder's morning shootaround, but James was asked for his response to the comments.
    "I'm not guarding KD for 48 minutes," James said. "First of all, I'm not playing 48 minutes and KD's not playing 48 minutes. So I'm not guarding him for 48 minutes. But while I'm on him, I'm just trying to make it tough. I'm not sitting here saying I'm a Durant-stopper because there's no such thing. I've got to rely on my defense behind me to communicate with me.
    "But I don't really care what he said. Stupid. Everyone says something to me every series. You guys keep trying to get a quote from me."