LeBron Ignores Reflex, Dunks Ball With Busted Nose

It has been confirmed that LeBron James, physical super-specimen, shares at least one biological trait with the rest of humanity: he bleeds.

Late in Miami's trouncing of Oklahoma City, James, whose disposition had been extraordinarily aggressive throughout the contest, identified an opportunity to record his 15th field goal.  Though, by this point, all five Thunder defenders had resorted essentially to zoning up on LeBron, Miami's spacing freed up the lane.  As James exploded from a near standstill, Serge Ibaka, the man burdened by the unenviable task of preventing the virtually inevitable, was left with little recourse but to swipe, swat, hack.  Despite committing and getting away with at least one foul in the process, and, to his credit, actually recovering ground to make a halfway decent contest, Ibaka got the ball dunked in his face.

Offensive players frequently rip through fouls to finish shots.  It's called continuation, and it is awarded all the time.  That said; to absorb a forearm to the face from Serge Ibaka, a Goliath human being in his own right, a full step prior to takeoff and still dunk the ball despite arguably being fouled again, is to accomplish a feat entirely different from the everyday "and-one."

An extra degree of audacity presents itself during the course of any dunk wherein the dunker becomes injured.  Mere nights ago, Dion Waiters demonstrated by punching a nasty facial over Spencer Hawes, hyperextending his knee in the process.  Waiters was not fouled on the play, but, to complete the it, he was forced to split two defenders and reach the ball across his body, likely resulting in his awkward landing.  Players such as Waiters are not unaware of the risks when they leap high to attempt powerful finishes, but rather disregard them as competitive courage and adrenaline take over.

LeBron's dunk, like that of Waiters, forced him to land a little bit awkwardly.  This is nothing entirely out of the ordinary.  It is that LeBron had already sustained a shot to the nose a full step prior to leaving the floor that makes his dunk stand out amongst standouts.  As many of us understand from firsthand experience, the natural human reaction to a possible broken nose is to recoil.  It's called the flinch reflex, and it's supposed to involve one's eyes closing and one's arms moving to protect the face, involuntarily.  In basketball, we see it all the time.  A player is hit in or around the face, his arms flail, the ball is lost, and he hits the deck, leaving us to argue about whether or not it was a flop.

Not only did LeBron not flop, he didn't even "sell" legitimate contact, or experience the flinch reflex.  He just kept on trucking to the rack, where he concluded a statement game with a statement play.

I'd imagine that even the detractors must admit, the whole ordeal was rather badass.