LeBron James suffered a self-inflicted injury to his right hand after the Cavaliers‘ loss to the Warriors in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin and Brian Windhorst reported.
James’ injury occurred after he punched a whiteboard in the Cavaliers’ locker room out of frustration, a source told ESPN. The ESPN report noted that James underwent two MRIs during the NBA Finals and sported a cast when he was not practicing, playing or visible to reporters.
“I let the emotions get the best of me and pretty much played the last three games with a broken hand,” James said after the Cavaliers were defeated in Game 4.
A visibly upset James took issue with a controversial call that resulted in a charge on Kevin Durant being overturned into an offensive foul late in the fourth quarter. Also, teammate J.R. Smith lost track of the score, forcing the game into overtime, where the Cavaliers’ ended up losing 124-114. It’s clear that frustration carried over into the Cleveland locker room postgame.
The injury was reported after the Cavaliers were swept out of the NBA Finals. ESPN noted that the hand injury helps explain the decline in James’ outside shooting, as he went 5-for-19 on shots 10 feet and out in the remaining three games.
Despite the injuries to his hand and his eye, the 33-year-old James had a strong series statistically, averaging 34.0 PPG, 10.0 APG and 8.5 RPG.
Mr Dilbert will punch the next white board after LBJ blows him off and the dumpster fire starts. Basketball karma pays you back after sticking your nose and big mouth in pacers business. Remember those: a. Anthony Bennett b. two #1 picks for Mozgov. He got rid of a good GM and has Screwy Lue who can’t figure out who the best 5 are. Suffer!
Lebron was the problem not the team. The roster was just fine is just the Cavs can’t play organizare basketball, they have to play Lebron ball while everyone stands around and watches him fish for his points and assists. I hope he leaves and the Cavs re-sign Hood and keep Lue around so we can actually see some basketball from the Cavs next season instead of the Lebron show.
Organized*
LeBron was definitely not the problem.
Yes he was, he controlled the ball 70 percent of the time and none of his teammates could get in a rhythm. Let him leave, and have the Cavs build around Kevin Love and watch them make the playoffs without him.
Take LeBron off the team. See how many games they win…
They’ll win 40-45 games if Lue can actually run an offense without Lebron wanting to do everything to get his stats. I’ll become a Cavs fan if Lebron leaves and we could see an actual team out there playing team basketball.
lmao… lottery for life
You’re not a Cavs fan & won’t be, quit pretending.
Your argument would make sense if there wasn’t already history that shows that you’re flat out wrong.
I’ve lost all respect for this dude.
Why did you have any to begin with?
I had some hope he would finally turn it up and pull this Finals off but I was wrong, I’m done as a fan of the man. No fight, no heart, played no defense, 13 shot attempts in a close out game? He’s pathetic.
But you probably love Jordan even though he punched multiple teammates.
Jordan motivates his teammates, he got on them constructively and neve belittled them. Look up how he got on Longley once for setting a screen for him which lead to Olajuwon having an advantage on the defensive side. He told Longley he did not need a screen and got on him on the bench but smiled afterwards, Jordan never belittled his teammates.
Jordan definetly belittled his teammates, ask will Perdue.
Dionis read a book or something on those Bulls. Learn things. MJ ran down teammates often. If you don’t like that then ypu don’t like MJ.
I know plenty about Jordan. Jordan struck fear into his teammates and opponents that you couldn’t slack off. Their are players who disrespect Lebron and don’t fear him at all, can’t say the same for MJ. Watching MJ was like watching Avatar, his game was amazing.
No. He ran them down for no reason. MJ didn’t even try to win in his early years, just liked showing off.
Quit making this a contest. It’s the work of a hater. Lowly troll.
Lebrun is not even close to mj. Mike never allowed his team to lose, let alone mail it in.
Why did you have any to begin with?
All aboard! The excuse train is pulling out of the station!
He should’ve punched JR Smith instead of the whiteboard. JR not only blew the first game, but essentially set the tone for the series.
Media is making JR Smith out to be a murderer or something… They still would’ve lost.
It’s something you’d expect in an AAU tournament. His lack of IQ in that situation – a basic fundamental, cost them that game, and apparently LeBron’s right hand. Smith is a clown on and off the court. Once bought a Brink’s truck to drive around while in NY. Practices half court shots before each game. He’s a detriment to any team.
Yeah right…. Hurt his hand but he throwin alley ops off the back board get outta here…
So the “All it takes to win is LeBron and four other guys” strategy, we’re gonna call that one ineffective now, right?
to bad it was LeBron trying to get sympathy and not actually hurt
Good. He’s a pompous/arrogant p r ! c k. You’ll never be better than MJ. You don’t even crack my top 10 of all-time greats. Simply the best player playing RIGHT NOW. That’s it.
Yeah, he’s not even a top 100 all-time great. He’s somewhere on the list between Brian Scalabrine and Ryan Gomes on my list of best basketball players… c’mon give me a break. Yeah the dude’s a major a hole and there’s no one I dislike more in the NBA at the moment but he’s still one of the best of all time. And the crap about the best player “right now” give me a break… I bet “back in your day” men were men and you walked uphill both ways to school right? Those were the good old days…
Come on dudes give the guy a break, he just put up some insane numbers playing with a broken hand… either way he was the finals MVP without a doubt, another super season, playoff & finals from Lebron, you should enjoy him while he plays, we are gonna miss him soon enough the day he hangs his boots, Lebron is the GOAT.
Hmmmm 3-6 in the finals! Goat LOL
Robert horry has more rings than Jordan doesn’t he? He must be the GOAT
Broken hand? Yeah right and my grandma flys jets
More respect if he just didn’t say that. But I give him he has crazy heart for the game
I tjought he was injured but thought, bloody left eye. He was tirning down open 3s.
JR Smith blunder, Lebron broken hand, and poor officiating = 4 game disaster for Cleveland! The only light for CAVs are Lebron taking pay cut, signing Paul George, Demarcus Cousin, and trading K love to Portland for D. Lillard and 2018 8 pick. 1 year contract + option year. You will need four AllStates. And depth to beat Golden States! If they don’t win! If not go to LA!