LeBron James admitted that he had a “slight headache” after slamming his head into a courtside camera in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
The Golden State Warriors had no pity, of course, mocking his injury and saying James caused himself to get hurt.
(Lynn Merritt, LBJ’s guy at Nike—the mastermind behind a certain PR disaster back in 2009—was caught berating the poor camera operator.)
Classy guy https://t.co/hlvAivVAlB @TheCauldron https://t.co/uF0dRRZQOR
— Brian Foley (@BFoley82) June 12, 2015
Lynn Merritt (and Nike) job is to protect LeBron. But Merritt was off-base yelling at cameraman — who was just doing his job.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) June 12, 2015
Dubs center Andrew Bogut claimed that LeBron “jumped into the cameraman” along the baseline, in attempt to exaggerate the contact.
Per USA Today:
“I think he jumped into the cameraman,” Bogut said when asked to give his perspective on the play. “Yeah, I think he came down and took two steps and then fell into the cameraman. I definitely, definitely didn’t hit him that hard.”
When the reporter replied by saying, “That’s how you saw it?” Bogut said, “No, that’s how it was. If you look at the replay, you can see the two steps being taken and then him falling into the camera. That’s what we saw on the replay, and that’s what my teammates saw.”
The Warriors’ Andre Iguodala, it appeared, wasn’t nearly so willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Late in the third quarter, when Iguodala was fouled going to the rim, he held his arm in dramatic fashion before giving Stephen Curry a low-five with the same arm while smiling. One Warriors player who was asked if they’d noticed Iguodala’s comedy act deemed it “tremendous.” […] “No, I didn’t have to go through any concussion protocol,” James said. “I had a slight headache, which I think every last one of you guys would probably have if you ran into a camera … But I didn’t go through any protocol. I’m fine.”
