Tiktekno: clip summarizing today's events in sport, 29.1/Sport1
Dillon Brooks continues to stir passions.
Lakers player Jared Vanderbilt was ejected tonight (between Monday and Tuesday) during the first half of his team's 119:135 loss to Houston after confronting Brooks, and the Lakers players defended Vanderbilt's actions and justified his anger at Brooks, who they claim continues to stir up and provoke.
At the start of the second quarter Brooks fouled Vanderbilt while Vanderbilt was in the air and dunked, giving him a "little" in the back and causing him to fall.
A little later, Brooks pushed Vanderbilt in a scramble under the basket.
In response, Vanderbilt countered and pushed Brooks, getting a technical.
Right after Vanderbilt put a finger to Brooks' head, got another technical and was ejected.
According to a Lakers player, Brooks called his opponent "Possie."
How he likes to annoy them.
Brooks/GettyImages, Carmen Mandato
As you know, there is a history of tensions between Brooks and LeBron James, dating back to his days in Memphis, and this continued until his time in Houston, and now it seems that Brooks is coming up with special motivation for games against the Lakers as well.
"Vanderbilt goes up for a completely free dunk and Brooks just pushed him from behind," Anthony Davis said.
"It's not a fair game. Players get injured like that. And everybody knows what kind of player he is. The refs let it go on and [Brooks] kind of stirred it up. He talks and says whatever he wants to the refs, the players, and at the end of the day, we're human. A man cannot speak to another man as he spoke to Wendo. So, Wendo did what he had to do."
Brooks said it was Vanderbilt that set the spirits high.
"He might feel like I made a dirty move," Brooks said.
"And when he feels like that, he likes to hit. It's basketball. We collide and wrestle. I feel like he took it a little too far."
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A bomb to the face.
LeBron/GettyImages, Carmen Mandato
Cursed and hit.
Brooks/GettyImages, Carmen Mandato
After Vanderbilt was ejected, with the Lakers trailing 46:36 early in the second quarter, the Rockets took control of the game, increasing their lead to as much as 30 points midway through the third quarter.
LeBron James stayed on the court even though the game seemed over and the Lakers were going to Atlanta for a back-to-back game, night after night, and later in a fight for a rebound Brooks punched him in the face, apparently trying to fight for the ball.
When LeBron was asked about Brooks at the end, he refused to answer, only saying "next question".
Lakers coach Darwin Hamm said both Brooks' push on Vanderbilt and the hit on James were enough to keep him away.
"Being competitive is one thing," Hamm said.
"But ... putting players at risk of injury ... I just watched that move again before I came in here, Brooks pushes him from behind, a player that's in the air. And then LeBron's move, he just hits him in the face. So maybe Dillon Brooks shouldn't have either to be in the game".
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Davis also says Brooks should have been removed.
"I mean, you're committing a serious offense," Davis said.
"It's part of basketball, but you're just not going to push someone in the back when they don't have control of their body and they're in the air. And he should have been sent off for that."
Hamm added: "I take my hat off to VanDo" for how he reacted in the confrontation with Brooks.
Lakers fans and many NBA fans are calling Brooks a "slut" after another typical night from the forward, but Brooks says he just brings an "alpha dog mentality" and made a difference when he arrived in Houston, compared to his time with the Grizzlies.
"Last year I let it go too far," Brooks said.
"Now, I feel like I have the ability to curb it."
More on the same topic:
Los Angeles Lakers
LeBron James