Getty Gary Payton II reacts to a play in a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The NBA has handed down punishment to Memphis Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks for a play that may have ended the season for Golden State Warriors defensive stopper Gary Payton II.
Payton was hurt in the opening minutes of Game 2 when Brook fouled him hard on a layup attempt, sending Payton crashing to the floor and fracturing his elbow. The Warriors received some bad news about Payton’s diagnosis on Wednesday, and a day later the NBA has taken action against Brooks.
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NBA Suspends Brooks
The league announced on Thursday that Brooks would be suspended for Saturday’s Game 3 in Oakland, saying that the Grizzlies guard made “unnecessary and excessive contact” on the play in a 106-101 Grizzlies win. As ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk noted, Payton is expected to miss up to a month, meaning he would not be able to return until at least the NBA Finals, should the Warriors advance that far. The suspension means Brooks will miss close to two full games, as he was ejected from Tuesday’s game after being assessed a flagrant-2 foul.
Brooks had averaged 13.4 points this postseason, and was the team’s second-leading scorer in the regular season, averaging 18.4 points per game. He missed significant stretches of the season due to injury and COVID protocol, appearing in only 32 games.
Memphis’ Dillon Brooks gets tossed for this foul on Golden State’s Gary Payton II.
Two games, two ejections between the Warriors and Grizzlies.
After Tuesday’s game, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr accused Brooks of breaking the unwritten code against intentionally hurting other players.
“I don’t know if it was intentional, but it was dirty,” Kerr said. “There is a code. This code that players follow where you never put a guy’s season [or] career in jeopardy by taking somebody out in midair and clubbing him across the head, ultimately fracturing Gary’s elbow … He broke the code. Dillon Brooks broke the code.”
Warriors May Need to Change Strategy
After bouncing around the NBA for the last six seasons, spending the majority of his time in the G League, Payton found a home with the Warriors this season and became one of the team’s most important defensive players. Payton also brought a spark off the bench, averaging 6.1 points and 3 rebounds through seven playoff games.
After the Warriors’ loss on May 3, Kerr lamented that Payton’s season was likely being cut short.
“This is a guy who’s been toiling the last six years trying to make it in this league,” Kerr said. “Finally found a home, playing his butt off this year in the playoffs. This should be the time of his life and guy comes in and whacks him across the head in midair. He broke the code. Dillon Brooks broke the code. That’s how I see it.”
Steve Kerr: “Dillon Brooks broke the code.”
Here is Kerr’s full soundbite on the foul that injured Gary Payton II
As The Athletic’s Anthony Slater noted, Payton’s absence will force the Warriors to make some significant defensive changes for the remainder of the series. In his absence, the Warriors could do little to stop Grizzlies guard Ja Morant, who scored 47 points including 18 over the final six minutes.
Warriors announce that Andre Iguodala will be re-evaluated again in another week. So that rules him out of Games 3, 4 and 5 of this Memphis series.
Andre Iguodala, who has missed the team’s last three playoff games due to a disc injury in his neck, is making good progress in his recovery and will be re-evaluated again in one week.
Slater noted that Kerr initially suggested veteran Andre Iguodala could fill in as Morant’s defender, but the team on Thursday noted that he is still healing from a neck injury and will miss at least the coming three games in the series.
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