Josh McRoberts Slammed with $20K Fine After Elbowing Lebron

NBA officials laid down the law with Charlotte’s Josh McRoberts on Thursday.

After reviewing footage of the nasty elbow McRoberts slammed into Lebron James’s throat late in the fourth quarter of game 2 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal in Miami, league officials hit the Bobcat’s forward with a $20,000 fine and upgraded the initial foul to a Flagrant 2 excessive contact penalty.

However, NBA officials stopped short of suspending McRoberts from Saturday’s playoff game with the Heat.

“For me, real time, he was coming pretty fast down the lane,” said McRoberts following Wednesday’s game.

“He’s a real strong guy and I was just trying to stop him from first getting the shot up. It looked worse than it was.”

But according to James, he was “attacked in the lane” by McRoberts.

“I got elbowed in the throat … it’s not a very good feeling,” said James during a post-game interview, according to ESPN. “The important thing is that we won the game.”

Miami is currently two games up in the series against the Bobcats and will head to Charlotte on Saturday for game 3 of the opening round of the playoffs.

[ESPN]