Nike rep chews out cameraman for LeBron James

When LeBron James cut his head after crashing into an NBA TV cameraman following a hard foul by Warriors center Andrew Bogut in the second quarter of Cleveland’s 103-82 loss to Golden State in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, perhaps nobody was more upset than Lynn Merritt.

James’ brand manager at Nike, Merritt cursed out the cameraman, calling him a “(expletive) (expletive)” before telling him “It IS your fault!”

Merritt has a history of protecting James from evil cameramen. He’s the same kindly gentleman who in 2009 confiscated video of then-Xavier guard Jordan Crawford dunking on James during a pick-up game at the LeBron James Skills Academy.

Not wanting Crawford’s two-handed slam over James to spread on YouTube, Merritt took tapes from two cameramen who were shooting the game.

“He just said, ‘We have to take your tape,’” freelance photographer Ryan Miller told CBSSports.com. “They took it from other guys, too.”

There was no policy against filming, which Miller said he had been doing all day without incident. Until after Crawford dunked on James.

“LeBron called Lynn over and told him something,” Miller said. “That’s how I knew his name was Lynn. LeBron said, ‘Hey, Lynn. Come here.’”

Minutes later, Miller said Merritt demanded his tape.

“There’s nothing I can think of besides LeBron just not wanting it online,” Miller said. “It’s a good story to tell people, I guess. But then again, I’m kind of pissed. I lost my tape.”

Miller joked about Thursday’s incident on Twitter, posting “At least I’m not the only cameraman to feel Lynn Merritt’s wrath. He didn’t swear at me, though so he must’ve liked me.”

Miller then went into full stand-up comic mode, posting “Lynn Merritt did say it’s wrong to take video of NBA guys like LeBron when not in shape. So…How is TNT able to shoot Glen Davis in games?”

He’ll be here all week. Try the veal.

Bogut said James only has himself to blame for the cuts on his head, implying after the game that he was trying to sell a flagrant foul.

“I think he jumped into the cameraman,” Bogut told USA Today. “Yeah, I think he came down and took two steps and then fell into the cameraman. I definitely, definitely didn’t hit him that hard.

“If you look at the replay, you can see the two steps being taken and then him falling into the camera. That’s what we saw on the replay, and that’s what my teammates saw.”

We also saw a man who needs to get a grip.