Sam Amick of USA Today Sports did an interview with Andrew Bogut after the conclusion of Game 4. Bogut finished Game 4 playing just three minutes with zero points, one assist, one rebound, and three personal fouls off the bench. He was a non-factor in the Warriors best game of the Finals. He is being talked about all over the country because one of his personal foul that sent LeBron James into the crowd face first. He collided with a baseline camera which resulted in two cuts on the side of his head.
In the interview, Bogut was asked to give his view on the situation. He said,
“I think he jumped into the cameraman”
“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.”
Amick responded,
“That’s how you saw it?”
Bogut replied,
“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.”
Every Cavaliers fan panicked because LeBron’s face convinced all he was severely injured. Bogut and the Warriors got booed as would any home crowd supporting their star player. LeBron got up right after the blood was cleaned up and returned to the game making one of two foul shots. He didn’t need to be examined for concussion and tied Steph Curry in total minutes with 41.
If James played almost the entire second after looking to be in serious pain, the foul wasn’t as rough as advertised. I have seen the tape many times and Bogut enforced a good, hard, playoff foul. In the Finals, teams can’t hold back anything. Bogut was playing aggressive basketball while the Cavaliers were looking desperate for help. LeBron has a history of over exaggerating calls, but head shots are always painful. If his head made hard enough contact with the camera, I guarantee you it would be impossible for the NBA to not make LeBron take the proper concussion protocol. This just gives me another reason to be excited for Game 5 on Sunday.
@Alec Walt
All statistics courtesy of ESPN.com
