Miami Heat star LeBron James said the confrontational tactics of Pacers guard Danny Granger are “stupid,” according to ESPN.com.

Granger has been called for technical fouls in each of the past three games for confronting James and Dwyane Wade after fouls.

“Whatever he’s trying, it is not working,” James told ESPN.com Tuesday before Game 5. “He’s said he’s not scared of LeBron, I want to let (James) know. I guess he’s doing it for his own psyche. It’s stupid.”

Granger said his team was the underdog and feels it has to earn respect.

“I think there is a line and I’m tip-toeing it,” Granger told ESPN.com. “That’s a product of the chip on my shoulder and we have on our shoulder as a team of not being respected. That goes not just for this series, but all year. We had the fourth or fifth best record in the NBA and I think we only had one televised game. Three or four teams that didn’t make the playoffs had more televised games than us. It was just a matter of being disrespected nationally.”

Wade didn’t think it was necessary.

“I’m all for standing up for your guys, but certain things you just can’t keep doing,” Wade said. “My message to Granger was that you just can’t keep running up into people’s faces for altercations. We’re not fighting on this basketball court, so let’s not act like we’re going to fight. We can be physical and do all that, but certain things got to stop. Are you out here to play basketball or are you out here to be a tough guy?”

“Nobody is fighting on the basketball court. C’mon,” Granger said. “I’m not going to fight because I mean too much to our team, and I can’t afford to be suspended for a game or do something stupid to get thrown out of a playoff game.”

Granger is averaging 13.5 points in his four games against the Heats, and that’s well below his regular-season average of 18.7.