SI

LeBron James Got Physical With a Ref While Trying to Go After Dillon Brooks

Stephen Douglas

LeBron James was furious with Dillon Brooks during the Lakers win over the Suns.
LeBron James was furious with Dillon Brooks during the Lakers win over the Suns. / NBA
In this story:

The Lakers beat the Suns in a wild game on Sunday in Phoenix. Not only did the Lakers win in the final seconds after blowing a 20-point lead, but LeBron James and Dillon Brooks got into it on multiple occassions with James showing his frustration on multiple occassions and at one point getting physical with a referee.

Late in the first half James lowered his shoulder and ran into Brooks, who seemed like he was going to flop anyway. James was called for an offensive foul and the play was reviewed, but no further action was taken.

During the third quarter, LeBron's emotions boiled over after Brooks slapped a ball at him as they went out of bounds. Referee Tyler Ford ran in to call a technical foul and promptly left the scene of the crime, leaving co-worker Scott Twardoski to try and hold LeBron back with the help of Rui Hachimura. LeBron appeared to be furious and got awfully handsy with Twardoski, but only earned one technical foul for the outburst.

James then hit a three-pointer to cap a 24-0 run and was shown screaming at Brooks again. A short time later the Lakers went up 20 and the game seemed over.

Not so fast. Phoenix proceeded to go on a 35-14 run of their own to take the lead 114-113 on a Brooks three-pointer with 12.2 seconds remaining. And he immediately earned a technical foul for getting physical with LeBron during a deadball, which earned him an ejection.

Amazingly, that didn't really cost the Suns as LeBron shot the technical free throw and missed, but he made up for that by drawing a questionable foul on a last second three-point attempt. LeBron made two of three free throws to put the Lakers back in the lead for good.

These two teams will meet again, for the third time this month, on Dec. 23. Considering what has now happened in the first two games, who knows what will happen next week.

Start off your day with SI:CYMI. dark. FREE NEWSLETTER. SI BTN Newsletter

More NBA on Sports Illustrated

feed

Published
Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

Home/NBA