King James seemed unfazed by a shot to his “crown jewels.”
Early in the third quarter of Game 3 between the Lakers and Grizzlies Saturday night, LeBron James was bringing the ball up court when Memphis agitator Dillon Brooks, who previously called the 38-year-old James “old,” hit James in the groin and earned himself a Flagrant 2 and an ejection.
“I was just trying to get up, protect my crown jewels and move onto the next play,” James told Spectrum SportsNet in an on-court interview after the Lakers’ 111-101 win gave them a 2-1 lead in the first-round NBA playoff series.
Brooks finished with seven points on 3-for-13 shooting, while James had 25 points on 10-for-20 shooting, nine rebounds and five assists.
Since the start of the NBA playoffs, there have been a number of ejections, flagrant fouls and low blows, from James Harden to Joel Embiid to Brooks, and also a suspension for Draymond Green for stomping on Domantas Sabonis.
While NBA officials have been inconsistent with legislating the low blows, Embiid and Harden avoided suspensions during the 76ers’ sweep of the Nets, which bodes well for Brooks’ availability for Monday’s Game 4.
When asked if his foe should be suspended, James said, “I’m not a part of that committee. If he’s in the lineup, out of the lineup, we’ve got to prepare no matter what.”
The groin shot could have been reaction to an earlier earful that James may have given Brooks during pregame warmups for all fans and cameras to see on Saturday.
James didn’t reveal what he said to Brooks, but he wanted everyone to see the confrontation.
“There was nothing private about it,” James said. “It was very, very public. I like it that way.”
Brooks isn’t the first player to try to get into James’ head — Lance Stephenson famously blew into James’ ear during the 2014 Eastern Conference finals between the Heat and Pacers.
“This is not my first rodeo,” James said. “I’ve had this throughout my career with certain individuals. It’s easy.”
Ja Morant returned from missing Game 2 with an injury and scored 45 points with 13 assists and nine rebounds, but it wasn’t enough as Memphis will try to even the series Monday at 10 p.m.