Cleveland Cavaliers fans have seen LeBron James do many things on the court, but on Tuesday night they all witnessed a first for the King. LeBron was ejected from the game late in the third quarter during the Cavs’ big win over the Miami Heat.
LeBron James came up with a steal late in the quarter and proceeded to run the ball up the court and to the hoop. James missed the layup that followed, and believing he had been fouled, then had some choice words for NBA referee Kane Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald quickly assessed The King with a technical foul, and then proceeded to eject him from the game.
“I got fouled all the way up the court, from the time that I stripped him, all the way until I got to the rim,” LeBron James said after the game. “I said what I had to say and then I moved on, but he decided I should get [ejected]. It is what it is. We got the win, and that’s what’s most important.”
Kane Fitzgerald told his side of the story, revealing that his decision to eject LeBron was due to a “couple different acts” that James had committed during the sequence of events.
“It was a culmination of a couple different acts,” Fitzgerald said. “Immediately after the no-call, he turned and threw an air punch directly at me, and then he aggressively charged at me, and then he used vulgarity in my ear a few times.”
After the game, LeBron James remained calm and collected as he talked about the ejection and also shared this thoughts on not getting calls, saying, “I think I’m one of the league leaders in points in the paint. I drive just as much as anybody. At this point, it’s almost like they’re trying to turn me into a jump shooter,” James said of how he has been officiated this season. “I can’t be a jump shooter. I’m not a jump shooter.”
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[Featured Image by Wikimedia Commons]
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