Dillion Brooks, a man not normally short of words, had little to say following game three of the NBA Playoffs first round.
After his Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Los Angeles Lakers without Ja Morant in game two to square the series 1-1, Brooks proceeded to call LeBron James “old”. But his fortunes changed drastically in game three, as he was ejected for hitting the 19-time All-Star in the groin. To exacerbate matters, the second seeded team lost the game 111-101 and trail the Lakers 2-1 in the series.
After the game, Tim McMahon at ESPN tweeted that Brooks declined interviews and told the reporter: “I ain’t talking.” The 27-year-old left the game with just seven points to his name on 3-for-13 shooting in just 19 minutes of action. The Grizzlies managed just nine points throughout the entire first quarter as they struggled to find rhythm offensively against a rampaging Lakers team.
However, the young team showed their resilience and continued to fight back as Ja Morant registered 45 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds on his return to the team after missing game two due to injury. But James’ 25 points, nine assists and five rebounds along with Anthony Davis’ 31 points to go with 17 rebounds, led the way for the Lakers as they regained the lead in this very intriguing series.
The 38-year-old was left writhing in pain following his collision with Brooks, but was pleased his side were able to defend home court in game three. "I've been doing this too long. I've made enough statements," he said. "No. We had an opportunity to come home and play well on our home floor, and we did that.
"No statement was made. We just wanted to play well and got a win. And we want to try to do that in Game 4, as well. But I don't need to make statements. This is not my first rodeo, I've had this throughout my career with certain individuals. It's easy, it's literally easy if you wanna ... we won tonight. Let me not say it. We won, [Anthony Davis] had a hell of a game. I'm not gonna do this."
In Brooks’ infamous post-game interview after game two he also claimed he ‘doesn’t respect anybody’ until they ‘drop 40 on him.’, something James seemingly couldn't care less. about. "At the end of the day, I think my résumé and what I've done for this league speaks for itself," James said.
"I don't really get caught up in any comments like that. Like I continue to say, at the end of the day, my focus is to my teammates and us trying to figure out a way how we can beat the Memphis Grizzlies, not how I can try to beat an individual on their team.
"If anybody knows me, they should know that's what I've always been about. That's all that matters." Game four will emulate from the Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday evening and the Lakers will have a chance to open up a 3-1 lead.
