I guess the era of cheap shots and players not giving a rat’s ass on getting hurt and all to become the “better man” is now over.
I mean especially if you’re LeBron James…
UGH.
A dude like LeBron James must never get involved in anything of this proportion. Earlier in the season, we have seen Russell Westbrook go emotional on Darius Bazley. The same can be said with Carmelo Anthony and Luguentz Dort. I get the disrespect… but why do you even want to tarnish your reputation on a bunch of up-and-comers? Bazley is just starting his career and his team needs the emotional oomph so that they can take their game to the next level.
From winless, Oklahoma City’s win-loss record is kind of far from the bottom as everyone predicted.
That distinction is reserved for the Houston Rockets at the moment.
And the Lakers are currently 2-0 against the Rockets.
Anyway…
Isaiah Stewart may have overacted in this situation but I guess we can’t blame him for the STREAM OF BLOOD FLOWING FROM HIS FACE AS IF HE WAS INVOLVED IN SOME SORT OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS FIGHT!!! I get the Malice in the Palace vibes but this is just a crazed man RIGHTFULLY PISSED for the cheap shot. No one saw the need to beat up the fans or any of the players (although the cameras are suspiciously focusing on both Russell Westbrook and Rajon Rondo), but it’s the case nonetheless. Sure, LeBron tried to salvage the situation. We can all say that the move is probably because he is frustrated that a lowly Detroit Pistons squad is winning against his Los Angeles Lakers.
It's just unfortunate that the cameras caught the snap of his elbows.
That elbow shot looks bad!!!
Beef Stew must have felt his face swell up… with blood trickling near his eyes... and for a sophomore playing with a rookie scale contract, he might have seen his future in front of his eyes... and it wasn't pretty.
It was like beef… in a bloody red stew, basically and all for the world to see.
What if the injury damages his eyes? Stewart wasn’t even doing anything bad in that scene. All Beef Stew was doing was jockeying for position and it was LeBron with the raised elbows.
Also, it’s not like Stewart went aggressive on him early. Whatever LeBron was jawing must have been not that good… or not that sincere? Maybe they were trash-talking during the duration of the game? But… whatever man, even the most sincere of apologies isn’t enough to calm a normal man… at least barely a minute after the incident happened. He was literally and figuratively seeing red.
Stewart is probably thinking why his childhood hero (or at least one of the institutions of his sport) would do such a thing? Stewart is just a second-year player in search of his place in history… playing for a team that barely gives him 25 minutes a night.
Stewart can have a career in the NFL if his basketball career fails to pan out. It felt as if he had at least three minutes of going on the offensive. People were tackling him and he was still standing up. He goes from zero to sixty in an instant. In the heat of the moment, he is checking out options to "score". And if the tunnel is connected to the visiting team’s area, well that just means that he can run far and fast.
Just imagine a bloodied freight train standing in your way.
Again, in the heat of the moment, we see LeBron James standing, flanked by his peers, trying to look calm and collected. But unlike in most instances, he’s basically the trigger that made this possible. LBJ is not a dirty player but he’s probably going to get a lot of words for this incident.
I guess the best thing for LeBron and the rest of the Lakers? Maybe they should win the games they need to win. They have lost twice to Oklahoma City and have lost four of their six games – mostly to powerhouse teams that are struggling at the moment.
At least they were able to defeat the Pistons.
Hopefully, they can do the same against the Knicks.