No Suspension For Dillon Brooks After Game 3 Ejection

[RealGM Wiretap]

Memphis Grizzlies wing Dillon Brooks will face no further punishment after being ejected from Game 3. Brooks was ejected after picking up a Flagrant 2 foul for a shot to the groin of Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James.

Brooks had previously stated that he wouldn't respect James until the Lakers star "dropped 40 on him". Brooks later clarified that he did respect James, but that he wasn't afraid of him. He also took the opportunity to call James "old", while suggesting that the NBA's all-time leading scorer isn't the player he once was.

For his part, James said those comments don't bother him. Following Brooks' ejection, James said he was “Just focusing on the game plan. There was a lot of game to be played when that incident happened. So just tried to get up, protect my crown jewels, and move on to the next play.”

Via Adrian Wojnarowski/ESPN

[tigerae]

This is where the NBA got it wrong. If Green got suspended, then I don't see how this isn't a suspension. It was a dirty non-basketball play and it was intentional. It wasn't anywhere near the basketball. If he used his right hand then you could say he was trying to poke the ball out, but not how it happened.

[HiRez]

Yeah between Draymond, Brooks, Embiid, and Harden, the NBA has completely screwed it up. There is no consistency and no rationale for they’re doing, what a mess. Brooks had the most technicals in the league and broke Gary Payton’s arm on a dirty play last year, so “Draymond had a history” is a ridiculous justification.

[fpzark]

This dude looks like Worf but less intimidating.

[Pickled Prunes]

This is where the NBA got it wrong. If Green got suspended, then I don't see how this isn't a suspension. It was a dirty non-basketball play and it was intentional. It wasn't anywhere near the basketball. If he used his right hand then you could say he was trying to poke the ball out, but not how it happened.

It pains me to say it, but it actually just looks like Lebron crossed him over. If Lebron had continued in the same direction the ball would have been right where Brooks was reaching. But Lebron put the ball behind his back and turned his body toward brooks. Brooks was clearly looking and leaning towards where he thought the ball would be and was caught off balance. He was also facing in a direction that would have made reaching for the ball with his right hand impossible.

In the pic below, from about 1/10th of a second before the foul, you can clearly see Dillon's focus is on the ball. You can also see why he would swipe with his left hand since it was the closer hand. He thinks he's got a steal. Unfortunately he swiped the wrong ball, but it was clearly unintentional.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/198164106@N07/52839505902/in/dateposted-public/

Draymond snapped and stomped on a player. You could see him hesitate, pull back and stomp with force. This is way different. Players are going to defend Lebron over Brooks because of their stature in the league. And honestly a lot of people (including me) just don't like Brooks. But there is no way you can convince me that a player that focused on stopping Lebron has extra bandwidth to be looking for a nut shot. It was an unfortunate accident and it's surprising that it doesn't happen more often.

[hyberx]

This is BS. Green was suspended when LeBron jumped on his head in an attempt to walk over him, then Green just pushed him off and barely touched LeBron's behind. The league had to give LeBron a chance down 1-3 so they suspended Green over basically nothing. Doesn't matter what LeBron was doing, Brooks clearly took a shot straight at LeBron's groin. There's no instigation no nothing by LeBron at that point, so you are telling me a Pro Bballer like Brooks can't control his arms even if he was trying to get the basketball? LOL. But Brooks doesn't get suspension because the Lakers are not down 1-3. The league office is a joke.

[hyberx]

If the so-called "focus on basketball" excuse is valid, then Ron Artest's elbow should be a block on James Harden. His beard fouled Ron Ron's elbow while Ron wasn't even looking at him.

Watch on YouTube

[tigerae]

This is where the NBA got it wrong. If Green got suspended, then I don't see how this isn't a suspension. It was a dirty non-basketball play and it was intentional. It wasn't anywhere near the basketball. If he used his right hand then you could say he was trying to poke the ball out, but not how it happened.

It pains me to say it, but it actually just looks like Lebron crossed him over. If Lebron had continued in the same direction the ball would have been right where Brooks was reaching. But Lebron put the ball behind his back and turned his body toward brooks. Brooks was clearly looking and leaning towards where he thought the ball would be and was caught off balance. He was also facing in a direction that would have made reaching for the ball with his right hand impossible.

In the pic below, from about 1/10th of a second before the foul, you can clearly see Dillon's focus is on the ball. You can also see why he would swipe with his left hand since it was the closer hand. He thinks he's got a steal. Unfortunately he swiped the wrong ball, but it was clearly unintentional.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/198164106@N07/52839505902/in/dateposted-public/

Draymond snapped and stomped on a player. You could see him hesitate, pull back and stomp with force. This is way different. Players are going to defend Lebron over Brooks because of their stature in the league. And honestly a lot of people (including me) just don't like Brooks. But there is no way you can convince me that a player that focused on stopping Lebron has extra bandwidth to be looking for a nut shot. It was an unfortunate accident and it's surprising that it doesn't happen more often.

If Brooks used his right hand I can see where you're coming from, but from your own picture you can see the ball was already behind his back. There was no way that left hand would have gotten close to the ball.

Brooks has also done a few times this in the past. Including this season against Donavan Mitchell. All were flagrant 2s. If they based Green's suspension on his past, Brooks' past should also taken in to account here as well.

[Pickled Prunes]

This is where the NBA got it wrong. If Green got suspended, then I don't see how this isn't a suspension. It was a dirty non-basketball play and it was intentional. It wasn't anywhere near the basketball. If he used his right hand then you could say he was trying to poke the ball out, but not how it happened.

It pains me to say it, but it actually just looks like Lebron crossed him over. If Lebron had continued in the same direction the ball would have been right where Brooks was reaching. But Lebron put the ball behind his back and turned his body toward brooks. Brooks was clearly looking and leaning towards where he thought the ball would be and was caught off balance. He was also facing in a direction that would have made reaching for the ball with his right hand impossible.

In the pic below, from about 1/10th of a second before the foul, you can clearly see Dillon's focus is on the ball. You can also see why he would swipe with his left hand since it was the closer hand. He thinks he's got a steal. Unfortunately he swiped the wrong ball, but it was clearly unintentional.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/198164106@N07/52839505902/in/dateposted-public/

Draymond snapped and stomped on a player. You could see him hesitate, pull back and stomp with force. This is way different. Players are going to defend Lebron over Brooks because of their stature in the league. And honestly a lot of people (including me) just don't like Brooks. But there is no way you can convince me that a player that focused on stopping Lebron has extra bandwidth to be looking for a nut shot. It was an unfortunate accident and it's surprising that it doesn't happen more often.

If Brooks used his right hand I can see where you're coming from, but from your own picture you can see the ball was already behind his back. There was no way that left hand would have gotten close to the ball.

Brooks has also done a few times this in the past. Including this season against Donavan Mitchell. All were flagrant 2s. If they based Green's suspension on his past, Brooks' past should also taken in to account here as well.

Brooks would have no shot at getting that ball with his right hand. He was running next to Lebron with Lebron on his left. His left was far closer. I'm not sure how you can't see that. Selective vision maybe? And no, the ball was not behind Lebron's back at the time. I could have taken the screenshot a few frames earlier but instead took it as close as I could to the moment that Lebron changed direction.

I wouldn't expect a Lakers fan to see it with a clear mind, but the league did. Green tried to hurt somebody, and a broken sternum might have kept Sabonis out of next pre-season. Dillon Brooks just got crossed over. I don't like him either, but that wasn't an intentional or malicious play. Sorry.

Side note: I know Lebron got hit, but we didn't really need the show. Rolling around grabbing his nads... that is not a natural reaction either. Such theater!

[kalel123]

This is BS. Green was suspended when LeBron jumped on his head in an attempt to walk over him, then Green just pushed him off and barely touched LeBron's behind. The league had to give LeBron a chance down 1-3 so they suspended Green over basically nothing. Doesn't matter what LeBron was doing, Brooks clearly took a shot straight at LeBron's groin. There's no instigation no nothing by LeBron at that point, so you are telling me a Pro Bballer like Brooks can't control his arms even if he was trying to get the basketball? LOL. But Brooks doesn't get suspension because the Lakers are not down 1-3. The league office is a joke.

Green didn't get suspended because of that. He got called for a tech or flagrant, which was well-deserving. Only problem for him was that he had accumulated so many that it was the last one needed for him to get automatic suspension. Was his own doing.

As for Brooks, plenty intentional though maybe he didn't mean to hit his balls. He wasn't looking where he was hitting to claim ignorance but he knew what he was doing. Guess he doesn't have as much history of being repeat offender though and wasn't as graphical as stomping so didn't get suspended.

[nigo242]

Personally, if the NBA suspended Green for his actions without saying the nonsense of historical behaviors, I would've have had an issue. But b/c they now are basing things on historical behavior, this now becomes arbitrarily. Based on their rationale for the 1 game with Draymond, Brooks SHOULD'VE been suspended. He lead the league in technicals this season.

I don't agree with the NBA using past behaviors to create new rules. Players like Green / Brooks have already been punished for their actions, and now punishing them again seems out of bounds. There are rules already that exists that take historical behavior into account. 16 Technicals = 1 game suspension.

NBA is going into a gray area and its not going to be fun.