Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James took a scary spill after a tough foul from Andrew Bogut in the second quarter of last night’s 103-82 Game 4 Finals loss against the Golden State Warriors. LeBron laid on the ground for a few tense moments as Cavs fans and players held their breaths expecting the worst. Once he got up, James had two gashes in the back of his head. At the time, James said the cuts were “glued up” during halftime and that was that. For the time being at least. Thankfully the injury didn’t appear to effect his performance or his playing time as he put up 20 points on 7-22 shooting, 12 boards, and 8 assists in 41 minutes. In the post game press conference, LeBron said he was suffering through a headache. Following from ESPN’s Baxter Holmes:
“I was just trying to regain my composure, and I was holding my head. It was hurting,” James said after Cleveland’s 103-82 loss. “I was just hoping I wasn’t bleeding. But obviously the camera cut me pretty bad. Our medical staff did a great job of stopping the bleeding.”
“I knew I had to shoot the free throws or I wasn’t going to be able to come back into the game, so it didn’t matter what was going on with my head at that point in time,” he said. “I had to go up there and shoot those free throws and continue to play.”
The forward had also said at first that stitches wouldn’t be necessary and the “glue” would do just fine. However he admitted that some stitches were placed postgame but he wouldn’t reveal just how many had been used. James also explained that there was no need for a concussion protocol, following from Marty Gitlin of CBSSports,
“I had a slight headache, which I think every last one of you guys would probably have if you ran into a camera,” he told the media gathering following the game. “You might have a little bit more than that. But I didn’t go through any protocol. I’m fine.”
The reason James didn’t have to go through the concussion protocol is because there was no change in his mental status and if that is the case the protocol is unnecessary. Bogut even stated earlier today that he believed LeBron “jumped” into the cameraman on purpose. Whether this is the case or not, hopefully James will be ready to go for Game 5 in Oakland on Sunday at 8.
For the actual number of stitches? LeBron actually shed some light on that.
LeBron James says to the media he got enough stitches to close up his wound
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) June 12, 2015
