NBA
Cavaliers general manager LeBron James should fine player LeBron James for stupidly punching a whiteboard in the locker room after Game 1 of the NBA Finals because he was mad at JR Smith’s idiocy in the final seconds of regulation.
And the NBA should fine Cavs GM LeBron James for failing to report a major injury to the most major of players in the game.
“I pretty much played the last three games with a broken hand,” James said after the Cavs were swept Friday.
Usually, I wouldn’t care about a team announcing an injury and I would marvel at the resilience of an athlete the way I do when stuff about players competing despite a punctured lung trickles out after the Stanley Cup Final. But this is different.
James’ frustration certainly was understandable, but, hey, James pretty much vouched for Smith, so that’s what you get for supporting a guy who throws a bowl of soup at a coach. When an idiot shows you he’s an idiot, believe him.
Idiocy, apparently, is contagious. Remember, James’ injury, which was more of a deep bone bruise than a full break but required the use of a soft cast, was self-inflicted. The residual damage to the Cavs was he never came close in the last three games to matching his career playoff best of 51 points in Game 1. In fact, he averaged a little more than half of that in the final three losses.
Beyond that, there’s a stench emanating from the Cavs’ and NBA’s failure or refusal to make the injury public until after the series. This reeks of shameful and unethical for a league yammering about pocketing an “integrity tax” from each state that legalizes sports gambling.
PREVIOUS ARTICLE
