Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James clearly didn’t look like himself during Wednesday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Lakers came away with a big overtime win and James made some big plays late, but overall he shot just 9-of-23 for 20 points with 10 rebounds, eight assists and two blocks.
Many thought that James’ foot was bothering him, which it was as he asked to come out of the game a couple of times in the first half to take his shoe off and massage his foot. James has been on the injury report all season with foot soreness although he has yet to miss a game.
As it turns out though, the foot issue wasn’t the biggest problem James was dealing with. He revealed in his postgame press conference that he has been sick and hadn’t gotten out of bed since Sunday before playing Wednesday night.
“Today was the first day I got out of bed since Sunday. Something going around, maybe, and it hit me pretty good. Hurt me to my soul to miss this Halloween party with all my guys on Monday. I didn’t know if I was going to have enough energy today,” James said.
As he does so often, LeBron used Tom Brady as motivation to play against the Pelicans.
“Okay, I think Tom Brady has been on the injury report for like 20 straight years. Somehow he just plays. I’ve been in bed since Sunday because my body told my ass to sit down.”
The fact that James’ illness was bothering him more than his foot is a good sign as the former should be gone within the next couple of days. Even though James brushed off the foot injury postgame though, it will be something to monitor moving forward as he seemed to be in visible pain while playing.
James praises teammates for picking him up
James played through the illness and injury and had his worst game of the season for L.A. He admitted as such and praised his teammates for picking him up to earn this win.
“I knew I wasn’t going to have everything,” James said. “All my juice, all my bounce, my spring. If I’m in the lineup, I’ve got to try to make plays. Was I great tonight? Absolutely not. Missed a lot of shots around the rim. There was a lot of miscues on defense, but just trying to get my guys as much energy and AD is doing the exact same. Until we continue to get our mojo flowing, we all feel really good as a team. We’ll just lean on each other. That’s what team sports is all about.”
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