LeBron hits head on courtside camera, comes up bloody after Bogut foul
Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James cut his head open in colliding with a cameraman after falling to the floor on the baseline following a foul by Golden State Warriors center Andrew Bogut midway through the second quarter of Game 4 of the 2015 NBA Finals on Thursday night:
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As James drove to the basket from the left wing, Bogut — who was replaced by reserve small forward Andre Iguodala from the Warriors starting lineup by head coach Steve Kerr shortly before tipoff in a tactical shift that paid dividends for Golden State in the early going — lowered the boom on the four-time MVP with a clean, hard foul. An off-balance James stumbled as he landed, running headlong and headfirst into the lens of a cameraman shooting the game from the baseline.
He stayed down in evident pain after the collision before coming up cut and bloodied:
A bleeding James headed to the bench, with a towel on his head, to receive treatment:
He seemed a bit shaken up, but returned and heading to the free-throw line to shoot his free throws. He split the pair, and remained in the game.
Despite hitting his head and bleeding from it, James did not undergo a concussion test following the incident. ABC’s Sage Steele raised the question of why not during a halftime interview with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.
“In terms of the blood rule, if he stops bleeding, he doesn’t need to come out of the game,” Silver said. “I’d say LeBron’s a true warrior. Obviously, when somebody gets hit on the head, we always watch closely. But there, it seemed to be a surface cut. He went to the line, hit the free throw and stayed in the game.”
James apparently did get some extra attention to attempt to address the cut:
It’s the second time this postseason that LeBron has had a run-in with a camerman during the course of play. He tweaked his ankle after landing on or near a cameraman’s foot during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Atlanta Hawks, and later suggested that the camera operator’s foot was further out toward the playing area than it was supposed to be.
As we always say whenever a player winds up ramming into a baseline cameraperson and gets dinged up or worse: Move the cameras back, NBA. We know why you don’t want to and won’t, but still, pretty please, with sugar on top: Move the damn cameras back and give these guys room to land safely.
Hat-tip to @_MarcusD_.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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