Dillon Brooks was up to his old tricks against the Lakers in the Rockets’ 135-119 win on Monday night and AD and LeBron have responded to his actions.
In the second quarter, he decided to target LeBron’s teammate Jarred Vanderbilt first after pushing him in the back during an uncontested dunk.
Dillon Brooks shoved Vando while he was in the air… not even a play on the ball.
How was this not a flagrant? pic.twitter.com/E3TnwF2W08
— Lakers All Day Everyday (@LADEig) January 30, 2024
Not long after, Brooks went for Vanderbilt again and arm-barred him under the basket, which Vanderbilt retaliated with by pushing Brooks in the chest and got himself a tech.
The Rockets small forward continued to target Vanderbilt with his trash-talking, which led to Vanderbilt poking Brooks in the head.
The Lakers forward received a second tech and was ejected for his actions, but AD thought that his teammate did the right thing by standing up to ‘Dillon the villain’.
“It’s not a safe play,” Anthony Davis said of Brooks’ foul on Vanderbilt. “Guys get hurt like that. And you got to know what type of player he is. You kind of let that just keep going on and he kind of provoked it. He talks and says whatever he wants to the refs, to players. And at the end of the day, we’re men. No man is going to talk towards another man the way he was talking to Vando. So, Vando did what he had to do.”
Things also got heated between Bron and Brooks in the third when Brooks made a shot while LeBron’s hand was in his face and he started jawing at James.
A few plays later, Brooks hit LeBron in the face when he was coming down from an attempted rebound and was called for a flagrant foul.
LeBron James went down after taking a hit to the head by Dillon Brooks 👀 pic.twitter.com/dc04rPcFN0
— Ahn Fire Digital (@AhnFireDigital) January 30, 2024
LeBron seems to be pretty sick of giving the Rockets forward airtime.
He was asked about his rival by reporters after the game and responded with, “Next question”.
The Rockets and Lakers won’t match up again this season, as they have already played each other on four occasions, resulting in an even 2-2 split.
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