Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan and veteran Rockets forward Dillon Brooks were both ejected in a March 21 game at Houston.
DeRozan committed a flagrant foul (seemingly out of frustration) against Houston’s Jalen Green, who went down and writhed in pain after DeRozan’s hard contact to Green’s upper leg.
From there, Brooks immediately came to the defense of his teammate and intervened. From there, a physical altercation ensued in which both players had to be separated by teammates and coaches.
No punches were thrown, though both were ejected. DeRozan was given a flagrant-two foul for his contact with Green, while Brooks was handed a technical foul and an ejection for retaliating.
Dillon Brooks and DeRozan ejected after scuffle 😳 pic.twitter.com/tdnMKNxZvt
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 22, 2024
During a recent episode of The 25/10 Show (hosted by DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy, former NFL stars with the Philadelphia Eagles), DeRozan discussed the altercation and said he was upset that Brooks had come up from behind him, when he wasn’t looking.
Among DeRozan’s comments:
I’m not going to lie, I just don’t like him. And for two, don’t walk up behind me. That’s rule number one, don’t walk up on no man behind him when his back’s turned.
Don’t run up behind me, and just don’t talk s–t. I respect everybody.
The full podcast can be viewed below, with discussion of the Houston incident starting at the 1:19:15 mark. As for the initial contact, DeRozan acknowledged being frustrated from a previous play and said he “wasn’t trying to hit him that hard.” He called it “a nudge.”
Jackson and McCoy didn’t buy that innocent explanation, however, and they jokingly referred to it as a football play.
(Less than a minute earlier, Green had blocked DeRozan at the rim, and DeRozan suggested that words were exchanged after.)
In postgame comments at the time, DeRozan said his contact wasn’t intentional or malicious, but that’s not how Brooks saw it. Thus, Brooks didn’t wait around when delivering his response.
It’s not how Rockets coach Ime Udoka saw it, either. “A guy takes a hit, and teammates are going to stand up for each other,” Udoka said.
The 2024-25 NBA schedule will be released in August, and that’s when we’ll learn the next potential DeRozan-Brooks meeting.
