LeBron James broke his nose less than two weeks ago, but he has already decided to ditch the protective mask he was supposed to be wearing during games. He did not wear the mask at all during a loss to the Chicago Bulls on Sunday, which made for a scary moment when he was kicked in the face by Jimmy Butler.
LeBron had a fast-break pass knocked away by Butler late in the second quarter just before the two players got tangled up. James appeared to drag Butler down with his elbow, which inspired Butler to swing his foot in the direction of LeBron’s face. He grazed his left cheek.
We don’t know if Butler intentionally kicked LeBron, but we do know the Bulls and Heat are two teams that do not get along. Butler and James were both given a technical foul after the play. LeBron is lucky Butler didn’t connect with his nose, otherwise he would have been in a lot of pain without the mask.
Video via Eye on Basketball
