The highly-anticipated matchup between LeBron James and Dillon Brooks on Saturday night fizzled out very quickly.
Brooks trash-talked James after the Memphis Grizzlies won Game 2 of the Western Conference first-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers. He said that James was too old to put up a big game against Memphis.
Fast forward to Saturday in Los Angeles, and the Grizzlies had a brutal first quarter where they fell behind 35-9. They were down 53-37 at the half, and things got worse when the third quarter started.
Brooks nailed James in the groin while trying to poke a ball out behind the Lakers star 17 seconds into the start of the third quarter.
LeBron James went down after taking a shot from Dillon Brooks 😳 pic.twitter.com/N2d2jhXsZ8
— Backcourt Alerts (@BackcourtAlerts) April 23, 2023
Here is a close-up view:
Lakers’ LeBron James takes below the belt shot from Grizzlies’ Dillon Brooks (flagrant foul 2, ejection) pic.twitter.com/IgBFRNA3a0
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) April 23, 2023
The officials deemed Brooks’ actions excessive and unnecessary and gave him a flagrant-2 foul, triggering an automatic ejection. Brooks was 3/13 for 7 points before being tossed.
Brooks talked a big game going into Game 3 and he went out with a whimper. What a disappointment all around (unless you’re a Lakers fan).
