This is a bit of an Urban Legend, but the origin is Game 5 of the Celtics vs. Cavs playoff series in Cleveland 2010.
With the Series tied at two the Celtics blew out the Cavs 120-88. Lebron had a particularly brutal game.
3-14 shooting and only scored 15 points. Furthermore it appeared that something was bothering him, but no one knew exactly what. In Game 6, Lebron did have a Triple Double but the Celtics went on to close out the series. During the Summer of Lebron there was various theories on what happened to Lebron in Game 5.
One was a mysterious elbow injury. The injury was never diagnosed or explained, but it was floated out there. It sort of faded away, until now.
LeBron James had a rough night Tuesday in the Miami Heat’s 99-95 win over the Phoenix Suns.
He re-aggravated an old right elbow injury he had when playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Then, he suffered a blow to the head after colliding with the Suns’ Grant Hill in the final 30 seconds of the game.
James said he had a “stinger” in his right arm that caused him the same numbness that affected him during the 2010 playoffs and once forced him to attempt a free throw left-handed. He still wears a padded sleeve on his right arm to protect the elbow.
“It’s the same elbow I hurt in Cleveland so I was a little off, I would say, for the rest of the game,” said James, who had 20 points but struggled from the floor after the hard landing.
“We’ll see the next couple days. I’ll come and get some treatment on it. Hopefully doesn’t cause any problems.”
Lebron says he doesn’t remember what happened after the collision, if you believe that he probably has a concussion and needs to take it a bit more seriously.
Until then maybe a mystery has been solved.