Interestingly, Ci Shiping disagrees with James s comment on Halliburton being the leader of the Pacers

Former NBA champion Metta Sandiford-Artest, known as Metta World Peace, expressed his disagreement on LeBron James' evaluation of Indiana Pacers' leadership and provided a different perspective before Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

Sandiford-Artest responded to a clip from the Mind the Game podcast hosted by James and co-host Steve Nash on X on Saturday. In this clip, James calls Tyreth Halliburton the Pacers’ “snake head”—Sandiford-Artest—a polite rebuttal.

"Dear Coach Carlisle, the head of this snake. The coach is another monster," Sandyford Artest wrote. "@Pacers look like a popular destination."

LeBron praised Halliburton's leadership, but Carlisle's influence was particularly important in the Pacers' finals journey.

James praised Halliburton's influence and leadership as the engine of Indiana's playoff success in his podcast show earlier this week.

"You see why [Pacers] are what they are now, and it all starts with the head of the snake," James said. "You'll break through the siege for some people, and [Harry] is the kind of person you'll give it all." The Pacers are currently winning a dramatic 111-110 reversal in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, currently leading the Oklahoma City Thunder 1-0. Halliburton locked in with a key winning jump shot with 0.3 seconds left in regular time.

While Halliburton has won wide acclaim for his leadership and performance at critical moments, Sandyford-Atester's remarks are a reminder that head coach Rick Carlisle plays a crucial role in the rise of the Pacers. Carlisle, who led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA championship in 2011, led the team to the Finals for the first time since 2000 during his second coaching with the Pacers.

Under Carlisle's leadership, the Pacers rebounded strongly from a sluggish state of 16 wins and 18 losses in the beginning, with a regular season record of 50 wins and 32 losses, and eliminated the Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Game 2 of the NBA Finals will be held at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. The Pacers hope to continue their current momentum before the series' third and fourth games moved to Indianapolis.