Dillon Brooks Addresses Foul That Caused Gary Payton II Fractured Elbow
The Memphis Grizzlies are in the midst of what has turned out to be a very physical playoff series with the Golden State Warriors.
This Western Conference Semifinals series has been nothing short of entertaining and due to the physicality of both teams, we have seen a ton of hard fouls.
In Game 1 of this series, Warriors’ Draymond Green was ejected after receiving a flagrant foul 2 for making contact with the head/neck area of Grizzlies’ Brandon Clarke and then subsequently dragging him to the ground.
Then in Game 2, Grizzlies’ Dillon Brooks was ejected after receiving a flagrant foul 2 for striking Warriors’ Gary Payton II up near the head while he was airborne and going for a layup. Payton was thrown off-balance on his way to the ground and landed hard on his left side. It was later revealed that the Warriors’ guard suffered a fractured left elbow.
Brooks has been heavily criticized since this play occurred and many have been calling him a “dirty player” for his act in Game 2.
On Monday, Dillon Brooks spoke to the media ahead of Game 4 of this series and expressed his sorrow for what had occurred.
“I didn’t mean for it to hurt somebody,” Brooks said. “If I were to take it back in that moment, I would.”
Brooks served a one-game suspension for this foul on Payton and sat out the Grizzlies’ 142-111 loss in Game 3 of this series.
For the Warriors, Gary Payton II has been ruled out for the remainder of this series against Memphis and the team has said he will be re-evaluated in about two weeks.
Following this injury to Payton in Game 2, Golden State Warriors’ head coach Steve Kerr said in his postgame remarks that Brooks’ foul was “dirty” and that “he broke the code.”
“I don’t even know what that means,” Brooks said Monday to reporters in response to Kerr’s comments. “It’s the playoffs. Every bucket, every pass, every possession, every play counts.”
A lot of discussion has been made about some of the physical fouls in this series and every little thing that happens from here on out between these two teams will be judged heavily by the referees and the league as a whole.
The Warriors currently lead the Grizzlies 3-1 in this semifinals series with Game 5 set to be played Wednesday in Memphis.
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