LeBron James is notorious for “going dark” as far as technology is concerned during the NBA playoffs so that he can tune out the commentary/criticism and focus solely on trying to win a championship. He nearly broke that rule over the weekend.
James, whose Cleveland Cavaliers are facing the Chicago Bulls during the Eastern Conference semifinals, told the media Monday that he partially broke his rule in order to congratulate his great friend Chris Paul, who hit an incredible shot to help the Clippers eliminate the Spurs from the playoffs.
“I called him from my wife’s phone,” James told the media after shootaround Monday.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer details the rest of the exchange:
James said Paul answered the call and James responded: “Don’t say nothing, you’re not allowed to reply, you’re not allowed to say anything.
“I told him how amazing he was and how great he was and I hung up on him, I haven’t spoken to him since, it’s the truth,” James said.
James has said he counts CP3 as one of his three closest friends in the league (excluding teammates), with Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade being the other two. He even was said to be intrigued by the possibility of teaming with CP3 on the Clippers. After watching Game 7 of the series, he had to congratulate his buddy, but he couldn’t let the call go on longer than that.
James also said it was difficult to resist the urge to tweet over the weekend.
“I had a lot of comments, and thank God I didn’t have social media because some of them could’ve went either or, either way and there’d be some storylines today,” James said via Cleveland.com. “It’s been a protection for me. It was a great day for me, Saturday, obviously in the sports world for my family, my father-in-law turned 70. That was a great day, my son had a soccer game, I was able to watch Game 7 of the Spurs and the Clippers and also watch one of the biggest sports events that sports has ever seen, so it was a great day Saturday.”
Can you imagine what that was like for Paul? The guy gets a hit-and-run call from LeBron, probably wants to chit-chat for a few minutes, but LeBron just leaves him hanging. Knowing that James doesn’t use his phone during the postseason, Paul has to feel honored that LeBron broke the rule for him.
Photo credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
