Lebron Already Making Excuses; This Guy and the Celts Eat those for Breakfast

ESPN.com - Lebron James revealed after the game that he underwent an MRI and X-rays on Monday. Results came back clean, according to the Cavaliers. James will have follow-up evaluation by team doctors and will undergo treatment beginning Wednesday. No tests are scheduled, but the evaluation could involve further testing.

The Cavaliers are not practicing on Wednesday. Their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Boston Celtics won't begin until Saturday, so James will have several days to rest the elbow. "It bothers me because I don't know what it is," James said. "Hopefully it doesn't continue to bother me. But I'm not concerned. Cleveland fans have nothing to worry about. They have no reason to panic. I don't think it's that serious."

I know a lot of you were too engrossed in The Hills season premier last night to catch the end of the Cleveland game so you probably don't know what this Lebron fake elbow injury business is all about. Let me give you a quick run down of what went down. The Bulls were down three in the waining seconds when D. Rose inexplicably forced a lefty leaner in the lane (maybe he was scared to be a hero and have to suffer through a Shelley Smith interview? See pic above and you'll understand this reasoning). Lebron gathered the Rose miss and was immediately fouled with seven seconds to go in the game. He drilled the first free throw to put his team up by four. But then as he backed up from the free throw line he must have suffered a freak injury to his elbow because he lined up for his second free throw and shot the thing lefty...huge brick. (Aside: Reggie Miller didn't skip a beat when Le-bitch did this observing, "Guys usually don't shoot free throws lefty in the playoffs unless they have an injury." Do guys shoot free throws lefty in the regular season for fun or something, Reg?) This was one of the most selfish plays I've ever seen someone make. This is coming from someone who sat through seven seasons of the Antoine Walker show and a whole season of the Rasheed debacle. Granted, the Cavs probably weren't going to lose the game up by 4 with seven seconds left. But it still seemed like Lebron went out of his way to let everyone know he was playing hurt. What pissed me off was that he was pulling a Kobe. This move is right out of the most self-centered player in the NBA's playbook. Everyone knows the routine by now but here's the formula developed by Kobe and executed by Lebron:

Step 1: Make sure reporters ask you about your injury after the game by grimacing throughout the game, putting on a sleeve that serves no purpose except to draw attention, or (like we've seen Kobe do in the past) shoot your free throws lefty.

Step 2: Seek praise for heroic effort despite a "devastating" injury that mysteriously was not revealed in an MRI.

Step 3: Create a potential excuse in case you don't deliver in the clutch.

Bingo-bango.

The Pick: Celts in 7