LeBron suffered hand injury after reportedly punching white board after Game 1
A demoralizing end to Game 1 of the NBA Finals, which included some questionable officiating and an all-time blunder from J.R. Smith, seemingly pushed LeBron James over the edge.
The Cleveland Cavaliers superstar reportedly punched a white board following his team's 124-114 overtime defeat at Oracle Arena to the Golden State Warriors, according to USA Today's Sam Amick.
His act of rage ultimately cost him, as James reportedly suffered a serious bone contusion in his right hand as a result.
After Cleveland's blowout loss to Golden State in Game 4 on Friday which closed out the series, the four-time Most Valuable Player admitted that he'd been playing through the injury.
"Self-inflicted. Postgame, after Game 1. Very emotional," said James. "For a lot of different reasons, understand how important a Game 1 on the road is for our ball club. What would that have done for us? The way we played, the calls that were made throughout the course of that game.
"The game was taken away from us. I had emotions of ... you just don't get an opportunity like this on the road versus Golden State to be able to get a Game 1. I let the emotions get the best of me, and pretty much played the last three games with a broken hand."
James reportedly underwent two MRIs to analyze the extent of the damage at the time, and was even wearing a soft cast, sources told ESPN's Dave McMenamin and Brian Windhorst. He chose to keep his injury private, though, as to not let the Warriors know that he was hurting.
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While James isn't one to make his excuses, his shooting numbers from Games 2 through 4 paint the picture of a player whose hand was giving him problems. As NBA.com's John Schuhman points out, James converted only 4-of-14 on shot attempts outside the paint area during that span after going 7-of-14 in Game 1 alone.
The 33-year-old had a relatively quiet performance in the closeout Game 4, finishing with 23 points, seven rebounds, eight assists, and six turnovers in 41 minutes of action while taking just 13 shots.