Dillon Brooks spent a majority of the regular season making headlines for his postgame quotes and on-court trash talk with opponents, and the antics have carried over seamlessly to the postseason.
The Memphis Grizzlies finished as the 2-seed in the Western Conference, drawing a matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round. Despite being the better regular season team, the Grizzlies were underdogs in the series. But that didn’t stop Brooks from calling out arguably the greatest player that the game has ever seen.
Dillon Brooks Won’t Be Suspended For Game 4
Reporting for ABC NBA Countdown on Memphis guard Dillon Brooks avoiding a Game 4 suspension pic.twitter.com/qw2Kq3qil2
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 23, 2023
Memphis entered the series short-handed, and the situation became worse when they lost the services of Ja Morant for Game 2. But the Grizzlies were able to come out with a hard-fought victory, thanks to suffocating defense that held the Lakers to their lowest output of the season.
Dillon Brooks took to the microphones after the contest to ignite a media wildfire. When asked about his heated interaction with LeBron James, Brooks responded by saying, “He’s old.” He went on to say that he “Pokes bears”, and doesn’t respect anyone until they score 40 points on him.
James obviously took notice to the comments, and did Brooks ever poke the bear.
To start Game 3, the Lakers got out to an 18-2 lead. They finished the quarter up 35-9, tied for the largest margin after one quarter in NBA playoff history. James scored 8 points in the frame, while Brooks went 0-4 and had a turnover.
Grizzlies Will Need All Hands On Deck Against Lakers
Dillon Brooks was ejected after receiving a flagrant 2 for this hit to LeBron. pic.twitter.com/LL9CLRAryy
— ESPN (@espn) April 23, 2023
It got far worse for Brooks. Just as the second half was starting, he was called for a flagrant 2 foul for hitting James below the belt. The act resulted in an ejection, and Brooks finished the game with 7 points on 3 for 13 shooting. The man who had so many words to say just a couple of days before suddenly had no comment.
There was thought that the punishment could last further than just the in-game suspension. Just this last week, we had a repeat offender go under review from the league, and Draymond Green was suspended for Game 3 of the series between the Warriors and the Kings. Dillon Brooks was the leader in technical fouls in 2022-23, and his name was fresh on everyone’s mind going into the game.
But the NBA went the other way in their decision on the Grizzlies forward, and Memphis will have him available for Game 4.
They’ll need all hands on deck. They have already surrendered their right to home court advantage, and are down 2-1 with another game in Los Angeles coming up. Game 4 will be Monday at 7PM Pacific on TNT.
NBA Betting Guides You May Like
- Top-rated NBA Betting Sites 2024 – Discover the Best NBA Sportsbooks Ranked & Reviewed.
- NBA Live Betting Guide 2024 – Compare The Best NBA Live Betting Sites.
- Best NBA Betting Apps in USA 2024 – Compare Top-rated Basketball Mobile Sportsbooks.
- Best Offshore Betting Sites Review – Compare Best Offshore Sports Betting Sites.
- Best Online Gambling Sites 2024 – Best Gambling Sites in USA Ranked & Reviewed.
- Best Bitcoin Betting Sites – Compare Top Sportsbooks that Accept Bitcoin.
Add Sportslens to your Google News Feed!