In Case You Hadn't Had Enough Of Game 3, Richard Jefferson Implied That LeBron James Was Sick With A Mystery Illness

"I know he won't talk about it, so I'll give my big guy a shout," Jefferson said. "Deron Williams missed shootaround this morning because he had like a little bug, really lethargic, had no energy. And I think that's what 'Bron had. And sometimes these little bugs can go around. And [James] was like, dude when Deron didn't show up to shootaround, it kind of started clicking in his head. Because for him it was like, 'I don't know why I was so lethargic, why I had no energy, I had nothing.'

"And so, these little things happen. [There] was no panic. Look, he was lethargic, they hit a bunch of tough shots, if Marcus Smart doesn't go 7-for-10 from 3, then we're not even talking about it."

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Oh, sweet Jesus. Can we please not do this? I appreciate Richard Jefferson sticking up for the guy who is most responsible for him retiring with a ring, but come the fuck on. Retroactively diagnosing the best player in the world with an ailment that he only thought that he might have had after it kept his much more mortal teammate out of a light practice two days later? I have no explanation for LeBron James general disinterest during what was one of his worst postseason games of his career so having a vague, indiscernible "bug" is as good of a reason as any. Still, acting like a sickness that he didn't even know about at the time was solely responsible for his shitty game is like last season's "Steph Curry sucked so he must be hurt" narrative on steroids. 

Why? Just why can't we let this die? Why can't we focus on the other 11 playoff games in which LeBron James defied age, science, and damn near everything else that says people aren't supposed to peak as professional athletes at the age of 32? Maybe the one game where he didn't make his peers look like preteens playing pickup against their father was altered by a mystery illness. However, unless that mystery illness was the 24 hour black plague then it doesn't completely make sense of an 11 point, 6 turnover performance from someone that's bigger, stronger, and faster then almost everyone else that has ever played the sport. 

​I haven't let one lazy, uninterested effort effect how I view a player that will probably go down as the best of all time, but if every loss is going to have a corresponding "condition" then I may have to jump on board with the idiots that won't stop stat vomiting Michael Jordon's arbitrary playoff point totals. ​