AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami fell completely silent in the fourth quarter of the Heat‘s 2012 NBA Finals Game 4 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, as LeBron James limped down the court and eventually had to be carried to the bench.
Good news, Heat fans: USA Today’s Adi Joseph has confirmed it was just cramping. But there were some anxious moments where it was easy to assume the worst.
LeBron hit the deck while driving and turned the ball over, and he was slow to get up as the Thunder missed a shot on the other end. He wound up taking the outlet pass and gingerly banked in a contested shot before limping back on defense.
Russell Westbrook missed a jumper, with LeBron playing far off of him, which the Heat rebounded. Miami then quickly called a timeout, and LeBron took a seat grimacing as the broadcast broke for commercial.
ESPN’s Rachel Nichols tweeted this out for all of us watching on TV:
For those of you watching a commercial on TV, the Heat trainers just had to pick LeBron James and carry him off the court
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) June 19, 2012
Trainers quickly went to work rubbing on both of James’ legs. It certainly looked like they were dealing with cramping.
LeBron was forced to miss just 55 seconds of action and he returned to the game and drilled a huge three. He still had a noticeable limp between plays, but it didn’t seem to alter his game.
James finished with 26 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds as the Heat took the 3-1 series lead over Keven Durant and OKC.
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