Jeff Teague has had many battles with LeBron James , especially when the two played in the same conference. However, among his many head-to-head matchups with King James, the one that stands out was the Miami Heat vs. Atlanta Hawks game during the 2012-13 NBA season.
Although Teague could not remember the exact date of that contest, he vividly recalls LeBron falling to the ground after rolling his ankle in a manner that Teague says was impossible to play through.
"Oh, he's different, bruh. DeShawn Stevenson is my witness, bro. This nig** rolled his ankle. I swear to God that bit** touched the floor. Like we ain't hyped that he's hurt, but we like, 'He's out bro, we're gonna win this game,'" Jeff said.
"He's an alien"
Stevenson played only one season for Atlanta. Looking at the Hawks' game log that year, they played Miami four times and lost all four meetings.
The game recaps don't mention LeBron suffering an ankle injury in any of those four contests. However, Teague and Stevenson were on the floor, so they saw first-hand what James did.
"No bulls***, I ain't lying. Nig** did like this (move his neck sideways), like that. Nig** started wiggling his foot and stayed in the game," added Teague. "Yeah, I was like, 'He's an alien y'all.' I said he's not real. I'm talking about that boy touched the ground…I wasn't hoping that he was severely hurt, but sh**, he twisted his ankle. I know you out. Nig**, I did that a hundred times. You got to sit that one out. Running faster, like he came back stronger."
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James looked very human in 2021
LeBron looking superhuman during the 2012-13 season wasn't surprising, as the superstar forward played through ankle sprains when he was much younger. James was only 28 years old and still at the peak of his athletic powers.
However, that wasn't the case when he hurt his ankle in 2021—also against the Hawks—and missed a significant number of games.
"It took a while," LBJ said during the 2021-22 preseason in October of that year. "It took a while. I didn't do much basketball stuff for probably like the first two months of the summer—which is very rare for me— because my ankle wasn't responding how we would like for it to respond."
"King James" is still in incredible physical shape. However, Father Time is undefeated. Even though LeBron continues to push boundaries like no one before, nearing 40, the dropoff is inevitable. But until that happens, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar will continue to do "alien" things.
Related: "Take care of me. I want to get paid right now" - Jeff Teague details what led to Jimmy Butler's departure from Minnesota
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