'The Art of Basketball' Makes Mavs' Kyrie Irving Foe Dillon Brooks Both 'Brother' and 'Villain'
The NBA has itself a new villain.
Insert Memphis Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks.
The Dallas Mavericks matched up against Brooks and the Grizzlies on Monday night for the third time in the last five games, ending in the same result with a win for Memphis.
With Luka Doncic out for his fifth consecutive game, Kyrie Irving was the focus for the defensive-minded Brooks.
Brooks made it tough for Irving, but the eight-time All-Star still found his way to a 28-point night, but by Brooks stepping on his foot in the third quarter, Irving reaggravated his recent toe injury and shot 0-of-8 in the fourth quarter.
Despite the injury, which left him in a boot as a precaution after the game, and the aggressiveness that Brooks plays with, Irving said it's 'nothing personal'.
"I said it the other day, it's nothing personal with Dillon when I was on the court," Irving said postgame of Brooks. "He's one of my brothers as well that I look at from afar and when we're on the court, it's everything."
Prior to their matchup on March 11, Brooks puffed his chest out in excitement of the potential of guarding Irving.
"Now I can get him by myself today, so I want to see what he’s all about," Brooks said in hopes of matching up with Irving while Doncic was already ruled out.
Brooks has that 'us against the world' mentality, where whoever he's matched up with on a nightly basis, he's looking for blood and will do whatever it takes to shut you down and help Memphis get the win -- and that means being the most annoying irritant in the NBA.
And though it may look personal, Irving says it's just the competitive nature of the league.
"It feels personal but it's not really. I think that's just the art of basketball for years upon years that we're joining in," Irving said. "Guys kind of trying to get themselves motivated. Other than that, we really protect each other off the court and they didn't want to see me get injured so that's why I didn't feel like it was on purpose."
Though Irving said it's not personal, snubbing Brooks' attempt at a postgame jersey swap sure looks a way, but we'll take his word for it.
Let's see just how personal it is if the two match up in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
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