The fan happened to be PGA champion Jason Day’s wife, Ellie Harvey. “She appears to be conscious and alright”, sideline reporter Craig Sager said on the TNT broadcast.
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Ellie Day was sitting front-row with her U.S. PGA Championship-winning husband when James dived for a loose ball with three minutes remaining in the 104-100 win over the Thunder.
Midway in the fourth quarter James flew into the baseline courtside seats, crashing directly into a lady while chasing down a loose ball.
That’s the freakish fate met by the wife of golfer Jason Day.
Ellie had the couple’s second child last month.
James said in a post-match interview shown on ESPN: “Obviously her health is very important and hopefully she’s doing well”.
“She squeezed my hand, said she was fine”, James said.
As inspiring as this play was, Durant’s play was only worth two points and wasn’t enough to push the Thunder past LeBron and the Cavs.
Their individual stats, while close, favor James as well: He has averaged 29.3 points, 64. rebounds, 6.5 assists and 38.1 minutes against Durant in the regular season, with the Thunder star countering with 29.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 40.2 minutes. At first, it seemed like the edge Kevin Durant needed, scoring 14 points in the first quarter as he got off to a hot start.
Meanwhile, the Cavaliers have split their last six games but will be going for a fourth straight win after cruising past the Celtics in an 89-77 win at Boston on Tuesday. The Thunder responded with a 7-0 run of their own heading into the half, and rode a 31 point 3rd quarter to a 78-74 lead going into the 4th. Kevin Love has helped and is having a better season than he did previous year, but this team still depends on LeBron to set the table, especially without Irving. James put in nine points in the period and had the highlight of the game.
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Aside from Kanter and Dion Waiters, the Thunder can bring weapons like D.J. Augustin, Nick Collison, Anthony Morrow and Kyle Singler off the bench. Williams was a member of those talented Cleveland teams, which included Mark Price, Brad Daugherty and always lost to the Michael-Jordan led Bulls in the playoffs in the 1980s-90s.
