LeBron James was not the only one that Dillon Brooks got into it with during Monday’s game.
Brooks and the Houston Rockets blew out the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night by a 135-119 final score. As one might come to expect from Brooks, he got petty with the Lakers during the contest by taunting James and later even hitting him with a flagrant foul too (see the videos here).
In the second quarter, Brooks also got under the skin of Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt. As the two were jostling for position on a shot attempt, Vanderbilt gave Brooks a shove and was hit with a technical foul. Vanderbilt, apparently upset by something that Brooks then said to him, went back and took another swipe at Brooks, earning himself a second tech and an ejection.
Jarred Vanderbilt ejected for pushing Dillon Brooks lol pic.twitter.com/0KiPGIiZeF
— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) January 30, 2024
The Lakers expressed anger over the Brooks-Vanderbilt incident after the game. One Lakers player told Dave McMenamin of ESPN that Brooks had called Vanderbilt a ‘p—y’ during the exchange. Anthony Davis also chimed in to support Vanderbilt, saying, “No man is going to talk towards another man the way he was talking to Vando. So, Vando did what he had to do.”
Tensions may have also boiled over because Brooks had made a suspect play on a Vanderbilt dunk earlier in the game.
Dillon Brooks shoved Vando while he was in the air… not even a play on the ball.
How was this not a flagrant? pic.twitter.com/E3TnwF2W08
— Lakers All Day Everyday (@LADEig) January 30, 2024
Brooks especially tries to be “Dillon the Villain” whenever he goes up against the Lakers. But the Lakers, perhaps in an extra foul mood because of the lopsided final score, felt that Brooks went too far this time around.
