Things got testy between the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets.
The Lakers fell 135-119 and suffered some injuries in the process. But they also lost forward Jarred Vanderbilt to an ejection following an altercation with Dillon Brooks.
During a made shot attempt by Austin Reaves, Brooks gave Vanderbilt a push with his forearm, to which Vanderbilt responded with a similar but more forceful act. He then poked Brooks in the back of the head as the latter was walking away.
There was some choice dialogue involved.
“A Lakers player told ESPN that Brooks called Vanderbilt a (expletive) during the exchange,” ESPN’s Dave McMenamin wrote on January 30.
Jarred Vanderbilt was ejected after getting into it with Dillon Brooks
“You got to know what type of player [Brooks] is,” Anthony Davis told reporters on January 29. “They 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 gonna talk to another man the way he was talking to Vando. So, Vando did what he had to do.”
Dillon Brooks Reacts to Jarred Vanderbilt’s Ejection After Rockets Beat Lakers
“I feel like he feel like I did a dirty play. And when he feels that way, he likes to bump,” Brooks said during his postgame availability. “It’s basketball; we bump and tussle. And I feel like he took it a little too far.”
Brooks has lamented his reputation as an agitator. But he also openly noted that he likes to “poke bears” during the Lakers’ first-round playoff series against Brooks’ Memphis Grizzlies last season.
He was back at it in this one.
Brooks not only pushed Vanderbilt while the latter was in mid-air going for a dunk. But he also made contact with LeBron James while going up to contest a shot. Neither play resulted in a foul against Brooks.
The NBA needs to investigate these reckless and dirty fouls by Dillon Brooks
You can’t convince me that these are “basketball plays”. He could’ve seriously injured LeBron and/or Vando.
“Next question,” James told the media, cutting short a question about Brooks postgame.
This was the final meeting of the regular season between these two teams, with each winning two games. The Lakers may not get a chance for revenge for this one, either, with Houston on the outside looking in of even the Play-In Tournament picture.
Davis also said Brooks crossed a line and echoed head coach Darvin Ham’s sentiments that Brooks’ actions warranted an ejection.
“Yeah [Brooks crossed the line],” Davis said. “I mean you take a hard foul, part of basketball. But you just not going to blatantly just push someone in they back when they have no control of their body in the air. I think he should have got ejected for that.
“Him and Bron have their whatever. And from what I saw, it was just a blatant hit of Bron to the face, so. Ref saw it differently.”
Anthony Davis Aggravated Groin Against Rockets
The good news for the Lakers is this was just their third loss in the last eight games. But they did not come out of it cleanly. Davis aggravated a groin injury he has been dealing with, though Ham said that was not why Davis sat out the fourth quarter of a winnable game.
“I just couldn’t move how I usually move on both ends,” Davis said, noting that he was not sure about his availability against the Atlanta Hawks on the second leg of the Lakers’ back-to-back.
Atlanta snapped a four-game skid with a 126-125 win over the Toronto Raptors on January 28.
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Insider: Dillon Brooks’ Insult Sparked Spat With Lakers’ Jarred Vanderbilt