Dillon Brooks definitely did not learn his lesson the first time around.
The new Houston Rockets swingman Brooks spoke to Arash Madani of Sportsnet ahead of the FIBA World Cup, where Brooks is competing with Canada’s national team. In the interview, Brooks doubled down on his previous trash talk for LeBron James during last season’s playoff series against James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
“I felt like I always had him,” said Brooks of James, per Bleacher Report. “I feel like that series was thrown upon me cause of the words that I say. But I’ve been saying things all year, and we won 50 games.”
Brooks, who was with the Memphis Grizzlies at the time, met James and the Lakers during the first round. While Memphis was the favorite as the No. 2 seed (to the Lakers’ No. 7 seed), Brooks’ mouth (as well as his play) brought about the Grizzlies’ downfall. Brooks infamously said during the series that he poked bears and wouldn’t respect James until James dropped 40 points on him.
But Brooks “backed up” his trash talk with multiple duds of sub-ten-point outings in the series. The Lakers went on to beat the Grizzlies in six games, winning the decisive final game by (poetically) 40 points. After the defeat, Brooks drew criticism for pulling a cowardly move (a sharp contrast to his tough talk of prior).
The disastrous series seemed to play a big role in Memphis’ decision not to bring back Brooks this offseason. But Brooks shocked many by landing a stunningly large contract from the Rockets this summer anyway. It seems Brooks has been emboldened again by the big payday, and now James is back in his crosshairs (at Brooks’ own risk).
