Getty Theo Pinson of the Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks dropped back down to .500 on Monday night when they fell to the Memphis Grizzlies. Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks has been in all of the headlines as of late because of his aggressive trash talk.
Last night was no different for the Canadian guard. Brooks picked up his 18th technical foul of the season about halfway through the third quarter. He had taunted the Mavericks’ bench after throwing down a dunk, miming a pom-pom motion towards Theo Pinson.
Here is Dillon Brooks’ 18th technical foul and why he will be suspended for a second time.
After Memphis’ 112-108 win over the Mavs, Brooks explained the taunt, claiming that Pinson earns his paycheck as a cheerleader rather than a basketball player.
“The dude was standing up on the bench. He should be sitting down,” Brooks said via ABC24’s Avery Braxton, making reference to the league’s bench decorum rules. “We should be putting that on notice, but I just wanna let him know he’s a cheerleader. Same class, I grew up watching him play and he was a great player. Now he gets paid to cheerlead. I love it.”
From last night: Dillon Brooks said his dunk celebration was directed at Mavericks’ Theo Pinson
“Same class, I grew up watching him play. He was a great player. Now he gets paid to cheerlead.”
Landed him his 18th technical foul
Brooks’ quote began to circle around Twitter. It caught the eyes of many, including Pinson, who had a witty response.
“I got some real estate I see… (laughing face emoji),” Pinson tweeted.
Pinson’s response was a reference to the comments the Grizzlies guard had made regarding his beef with the Golden State Warriors.
After the March 19 meeting between Memphis and Golden State, Brooks told reporters that he’s got a lot of “real estate in San Francisco.”
Dillon Brooks: “I own a lot of real estate in San Francisco.”
Mavs’ Kyrie Irving Discusses Dillon Brooks, Foot Injury
Dallas looked to be headed for an important victory on March 20 against the Grizzlies. They led by 13 points heading into the fourth quarter, but then absolutely melted down the stretch.
Memphis outscored the Mavs 29-12 in the final period.
One of the main reasons that Dallas struggled to score was the rough display from Kyrie Irving, who went scoreless in the fourth, shooting 0-8 from the field.
Irving explained that he’d reaggravated a nagging foot injury during the game, but still took accountability for the goose egg down the stretch.
“At the end of the day, we got to take care of the controllable details out there, which is rebounding and staying in front of our men,” Irving said via the Fanatics View YouTube channel. “For the majority night, we did that. But for me, I have to be better if I’m going to be out there. Even maintaining the pace that I was after getting somewhat injured by Dillon. Just got to maintain the poise.”
Though Brooks has a bit of a dangerous reputation, Irving didn’t believe that he had intentionally tried to hurt him.
“Just a re-aggravation of my foot. Unfortunate play,” Irving said. “I would have felt different up here if I felt Dillon did it on purpose, but I didn’t. So, just one of those plays where he’s trailing me, and I think his feet got caught up with mine, and I twisted my ankle. So, just bad timing, but the game has to keep going on.”
Kyrie Irving Discusses Mavs’ Group Meeting
Prior to the loss against Memphis, Dallas had won back-to-back games. Irving recently discussed the quick surge with The Dallas Morning News’ Callie Caplan.
He revealed that the team had had a group discussion and hashed some issues out.
“We had some real conversations, grown-up conversations, mature conversations,” Irving told Caplan. “We needed to get some things out.”
The All-Star guard went on to highlight the importance of such discussions.
”We had a real group conversation that we needed to get some things out, and now we’re just living with the wins and the losses because we’re together,” Irving continued. “It’s just those conversations behind the scenes really matter for our organization”