On Friday, Mavericks guard DeShawn Stevenson — carefully? — skirted reigniting a lively tiff with Miami’s LeBron James , now that the two will face off in the NBA Finals. "Of course we’ll have a little animosity there," Stevenson said. "But I think that’s in the past, and it’s a different kind of team situation." He wasn’t as guarded back in 2008, when he boldly called James "overrated." Stevenson’s Washington Wizards then met James’ Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs, where the back-and-forth escalated, even drawing in hip-hop artists Jay-Z and Soulja Boy. The series included a hard foul to James’ head by Stevenson, but the Cavaliers won the series, their third straight postseason defeat of Washington. Stevenson had blamed the start of the spat on hearing that James had verbally degraded Stevenson’s game. The Mavs’ defensive specialist will be involved with defending James in the Finals. "I’m going to play him hard, I’m going to play him like I play everybody," Stevenson said. "Not try to hurt him or anything, but just go out there and play defense like I do, hard and tough." James averaged 29.8 points during that 2008 playoff series, something Stevenson noted. "He’s talented, you have to give him everything, psych him out of his head, be physical," he said. "You have to try different things and hope he settles for jump shots." Mavs center Tyson Chandler said Dallas didn’t need "the pot to be stirred at this time of year," regarding the players’ history, and Stevenson didn’t. "I think he’s worried about winning the championship," Stevenson said of James. "And so are we." Stevenson called James an MVP-type of player, and along with Laker Kobe Bryant , the best in the game. What, no mention of Dirk Nowitzki? "Dirk don’t worry about that," Stevenson said. VIA @DALLASNEWS looks like the D- steve and lebron "beef" has been revisited. LETS GO MAVS