We all know athletes wear protective masks to avoid injuries on their faces, like some of the NBA's greatest athletes Kobe Bryant, Richard Hamilton, Dennis Rodman, and Alonzo Mourning, just to name a few. For LeBron James, this is his second time - but he added a new twist on his mask.
LeBron James wore a black protected mask protecting his injured nose during the Miami Heats' game against the New York Knicks. Several edited pictures of him have surfaced - Oh boy, they are hilarious!
LeBron James took the court and went to work as the Heat beat the Knicks 108-82 in Miami on Thursday. The four-time MVP suffered a broken nose during Miami's 103-81 road victory over Oklahoma City last week. The injury, which occurred when James took a blow to the face from Serge Ibaka while dunking, kept him on the sidelines when Miami beat Chicago 93-79 on Monday.
The Miami Heat star showed no ill effects from the injury or the new mask as he finished with a game-high 31 points (on 13-for-19 shooting), four rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes.
The Associated Press reported this week that James practiced in a mask, but that he found it to be uncomfortable. Over the last week, the Heat forward joked that he planned to wear a mask like Bane, the villain in Batman, or some other comic book character.
James replied by saying, "I've been talking to Marvel Comics for the last couple of days, and DC Comics, to try to come up with one of the greatest masks of all time, So we'll see what happens."
James supplemented the mask, which had a reflective and textured design, with a black headband that matched Miami's black alternate uniforms. Still, this was more a matter of function rather than fashion, even as his face protection blended in smoothly with his beard.
"It lessens the impact," James explained, according to the AP. "You can still feel it, because the nose is still tender. But it definitely lessens the pain."
The back-to-back champion Heat improved to 41-14 with the win. Dwyane Wade added 23 points (on 10-for-13 shooting) and two rebounds for Miami.
Carmelo Anthony scored 29 points (on 11-for-20 shooting) and added seven rebounds for the Knicks, who fell to 21-37 with the loss. Tyson Chandler added 19 points (on 6-for-9 shooting) and 16 rebounds for New York.
As many witness his new mask, people couldn't help but to make fun of his black mask and several edited pictures of him have sprung up to the net, here are several picture below.
