LeBron James was asked about his mentality when he's on the receiving end of fouls and his tendency not to react with physicality back towards other players.
James told reporters he plays a couple of lines from Jay-Z's "Streets is Watching" in his head.
“I always think back to the Jay Z phrase, and a line he had of, ‘If I shoot you, then I’m brainless. If you shoot me, you’re famous. What am I to do?’ So, that always plays in my head any time I feel like I want to react. I’ve got to keep my brain.”
James said he carries that mentality because of something that happened to him in high school.
“At the end of the day, I'm important to this team. I can't afford to react in any kind of way that will get me thrown out of a game, but I will protect myself,” James continued. “I will protect myself. When I was in high school, I got low-bridged playing in an AAU tournament as a junior in high school. A kid just low-bridged me and I fell and broke my wrist. That kind of thought always plays in my mind either when I'm getting thrown to the ground or if it's a borderline dirty play.”
