During Game 4 of the NBA Finals, Golden State’s Andrew Bogut laid a hard foul on LeBron James that sent the King tumbling into a camera, resulting in a gash on his head:
You’d have to work pretty hard (or root for Cleveland) to call that a dirty play, but with the increased scrutiny of the Finals and the fact that LeBron was the player he fouled, the questions were going to come. Bogut knew it, and he was ready for them. From Sam Amick:
“I think he jumped into the cameraman,” Bogut said when asked to give his perspective on the play. “Yeah, I think he came down and took two steps and then fell into the cameraman. I definitely, definitely didn’t hit him that hard.”
When the reporter replied by saying, “That’s how you saw it?” Bogut said, “No, that’s how it was. If you look at the replay, you can see the two steps being taken and then him falling into the camera. That’s what we saw on the replay, and that’s what my teammates saw.”
Bogut probably doesn’t actually believe LeBron jumped into a possible head injury, and the wording of the rest of his answer implies that he just chose his first words poorly. But you can tell that he bristles at the suggestion that he was trying to hurt LeBron, and it’s hard to blame him. Fairly or unfairly, Bogut doesn’t have the benefit of the doubt on plays like this any more.
(Via USA Today)
