https://youtu.be/fBuSCqk5OlE?t=7m4s
Lost amid LeBron James’ Jay Z quote, and Toronto’s surprising Game 3 win, was James being asked about that hit he took to the face by teammate, Tristan Thompson.
DeMarre Carroll was initially assessed a technical foul before it was overturned after replays showed it was Thompson’s elbow that caught LeBron in the mouth.
The Cleveland star’s answer was predictable:
“I’m not trying to sell a call. I got hit with an elbow. I didn’t know it was from my own teammate. I thought it was DeMarre, but I watched the replay, it was from my teammate. So no — sell a call for what? There was no call there to be sold. That’s it. I was going to say something else to you, but I’m going to leave it alone.”
So what was the “something else” he wanted to say?
We think we know, so we’ll just go ahead and finish up what LeBron wanted to tell us because we feel the same way. (this is purely fictional, so calm down before you send off that tweet)
What the hell? Why must you do this every time I fall to the ground. This is a grown man league. These aren’t little people playing with me. Yes, I’m big and fast and imposing as hell, but that doesn’t mean I’m invincible. I still bleed. I can still be pushed to the ground. Any one person can. That means I will react when an elbow is coming at my face. Part of that reaction on Saturday night was falling to the ground. I wasn’t trying to get a technical. I was simply responding. Not everyone can be Kobe.
Listen, I get it. I’m part of my own mythology. Hercules wouldn’t fall down after what appears to be a love tap from a teammate. But this is the real world. When a big elbow clonks into my mouth, I’m going to go in the opposite direction; that’s just simple physics. The response is primordial and subconscious. Everyone protects their face in that instance.
For all the people calling me #LeFlop on Twitter, lets do an experiment. We’ll have someone a little bigger than you throw an elbow at your face and see what your flop will look like. My guess is — for the people really questioning my manhood on social media — a little pee would probably come out because you’d be so shook. Tough guys can meet me in Temecula if you don’t think I’m serious.
For the record, we’re in line with ESPN Insider Kevin Pelton on this point, too.
I would love to videotape people on Twitter getting unexpectedly hit in the face and see how many of them "flop" when it happens.
— Kevin Pelton (@kpelton) May 22, 2016
Also love that it's a "flop" when an elbow nearly misses someone's face, because apparently reflexes don't exist.
— Kevin Pelton (@kpelton) May 22, 2016
