Memphis Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks additional broken his popularity within the league by getting ejected for hitting Donovan Mitchell within the groin on Thursday night time within the Grizzlies’ 128-113 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Following the sport, each Mitchell and Cavaliers head coach JB Bickerstaff referred to as the incident an inexpensive shot and questioned Brooks’ character.
Brooks was going up for a layup with just below six minutes remaining within the third quarter, however his try was altered by Cavaliers large man Evan Mobley and headed out of bounds. Mitchell was making an attempt to avoid wasting the ball, however Brooks, who was on the bottom, hit him within the groin. Mitchell responded by throwing the ball off of Brooks, who was nonetheless on the bottom, and this began a struggle between the 2 groups.
“That’s simply who he’s,” Mitchell stated. “We’ve seen it a bunch on this league with him. (He) and I’ve had our private battles for years. Quite frankly, I’ve been busting his ass for years. Playoffs. Regular season. And the one sport he does an all proper job on me immediately, decides to do one thing like that.
“You know, there isn’t any place within the sport and you have gotta shield your self on the finish of the day, however this has been brewing for years, with me, with different guys within the league … this is not new. And tonight was simply the top of it, but it surely’s powerful when you possibly can’t guard any person and might’t do one thing with any person you gotta resort to that and that is what he is achieved to a whole lot of gamers … that is a kind of issues, that is what you resort to, and that is cool, however I’m glad my guys held it down tonight and, you recognize, had my again all through the entire thing.”
Brooks was assessed a flagrant-2 foul, which routinely disqualified him from the sport, and Mitchell was additionally ejected.
“That was an inexpensive shot in a number of methods,” Bickerstaff stated. “You roll a man’s ankle after which clearly no matter was subsequent out of there, a man ought to have the correct to face up for himself. I believed Donovan did that. That’s one factor, I’m happy with our guys, we do not have these guys that begin shit, however we acquired guys that do not run from shit. You need to on this league, you need to get up for your self. That’s what he did and that is why his teammates had his again.”
Things haven’t been going nicely for the Grizzlies of late. They have now misplaced seven of their previous 10 video games, and dropping Brooks to a suspension would solely make issues harder for them. Brooks shall be a free agent after the season, and incidents like this aren’t going to assist persuade the Grizzlies to decide to him with a long-term contract. Something wants to alter in Memphis if the Grizzlies are going to get again on monitor this season.
