8) Crampgate
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The Crying LeBron face is second perhaps only to the Crying Jordan face in expressing anguish. That is excellent company to be in, but there’s no question that LeBron has had moments when his toughness has been in question.
It is worth mentioning that LeBron has had a gruelling marathon of years. He plays through the regular season, makes the Finals and when needed he plays for Team USA in the offseason. His physical style of play does him no favours in maintaining his health either.
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That being said, he’s been accused of being soft on occasion, as when he got a case of the cramps in Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Finals against the Spurs and had to be carried off.
When Kobe Bryant tore his Achilles, he limped over to the free throw line to hit two shots which allowed the Lakers to win and make it to the playoffs. LeBron needed to be carried off for cramps.
Here’s the thing, though, cramps can be devastating to move through. It isn’t like a bloody face which a Hockey player can grin through, this injury severely restricts mobility.
As Dwyane Wade put it: "From the outside, 'oh, it's a cramp. Can't play through a cramp?' But until you walk into -- until you’re in that situation and you're in someone else's moccasins, you don't know what somebody else's body is going through. If a player like LeBron James coming out of the ballgame, [up] two, then it's serious. It's not nothing to be joked about."
Even a sports drink company which specialises in hydrating athletes wasn’t above taking a shot at him. What is often lost in the annals of history is that even Michael Jordan had to exit a NBA Finals match against the Utah Jazz due to cramps before his Flu Game. The Bulls lost that one.
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