D’Angelo Russell took a LeBron James pass where it hurts
Basketball is not typically called a contact sport, but it still carries the possibility of bodily harm. It’s easy to get an elbow to the face in the post or any number of knocks during a loose ball. There are many occupational hazards in the NBA.
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For instance, sometimes LeBron James will fire a pass right into an opponent’s nether regions:
Oof. That’s Los Angeles Lakers rookie guard D’Angelo Russell on the receiving end of this errant pass late in the third quarter. Russell fell to the floor and was helped off the court, but he did return to finish with 15 points in his 28 minutes. The Lakers fell to LeBron’s Cleveland Cavaliers 120-111.
Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com quoted several Lakers about the rough moment after the game:
“The way the crowd sounded, it seemed pretty obvious that it hit him right in the spot,” Lakers coach Byron Scott said. “I felt for him.” […]
“It was tough. Every guy knows the feeling,” said Russell, who finished with 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting in 28 minutes. “Laugh about it now and then two months from now, somebody else will have something else to laugh about.”
Said Russell’s teammate, Kobe Bryant, “It was hilarious. It was so funny. Once I knew he was OK, the jokes write themselves. That was a good time.”
I’m pretty sure there’s only really one joke when a guy gets hit in the groin, but maybe Kobe is working on fresh material no one’s ever considered before.
It was a notable game for Kobe, too — his last in Cleveland and his final matchup with non-rival LeBron James, whom he surprisingly avoided in the 2009 and 2010 NBA Finals. When Kobe left the court in the final minute, the two shared a nice hug:
Two all-time greats paying respect to each other in their final regular season game against each other? We’ll still take the Russell play. LeBron and Kobe’s video had heart, but “Basketball in the Groin” had a basketball in the groin.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
