by Paul Teetor
For your own safety: don’t poke the bear.
Memphis Grizzlies bad boy Dillon Brooks had to learn that the hard way.
First, he called the bear – aka LeBron James – a tired old man after the Grizzlies beat LeBron and the Lakers in the second game of their first-round playoff series, a game in which LeBron did not play well with Brooks as his primary defender.
“He’s not at the same level as he was when he was on Cleveland, as when he was winning championships in Miami, “Brooks said. “I wish I got to see that. You know what I mean? It would have been a harder task.”
When reporters wondered why he would do something as reckless as trashing LeBron, Brooks had a glib answer.
“I poke bears,” Brooks said. “I don’t respect no one until they come and give me 40 points.”
That inspired a fired-up LeBron to come charging out in game three and lead the Lakers to an astounding 35-9 lead at the end of the first quarter, making NBA history with the largest first quarter lead in a playoff game.
The sold-out home crowd got into the spirit of the long-brewing confrontation even before the tip-off when they cheered every time Brooks missed a warm up shot. And when he missed his first five shots in the game, well, the fans couldn’t restrain themselves, showering the self-appointed villain with boos and profane insults every time he touched the ball.
He became more and more frustrated as the game went on, connecting on only 3 of 14 shots and repeatedly being abused by LeBron, who scored 25 points, ripped down 10 rebounds and handed out 7 assists.
Then in the first minute of the second half Brooks reached down and poked the bear in the ba…no, in the nu…well, let’s just say it was a direct blow to LeBron’s man zone.
The dirty play left LeBron writhing around on the court for a couple of minutes and clutching his crotch while the refs reviewed the play. By the time Lebron was able to walk back to the Lakers bench, Brooks had been assessed a flagrant foul and tossed out of the game.
And by the end of the game the Lakers had posted a 111-101 victory to grab a 2-1 lead in the series. That series lead grew to 3-1 in game 4 Monday night when the Lakers won an overtime thriller 117-111. Game 5 is Wednesday night in Memphis.
While the series continued Monday, Saturday’s game three was memorable because of Brooks’ dirty play – and because the NBA declined to suspend him for Monday’s game even though it was the second time this season Brooks had deliberately punched an opponent in the crotch.
Back in February he did the same thing to Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell, another All-Star player. Brooks, the 26-year-old forward out of Oregon, has never made an All-Star team and never will. But he has made a reputation as a poor man’s Draymond Green: an agitator, an irritant, a defensive specialist and a guy who often crosses the borderline from aggressive play to downright dirty play.
Brooks’ antics detracted from an epic showdown between brash youth – in the form of Grizzlies superstar point guard Ja Morant, shooter supreme Desmond Bane and NBA Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson – versus championship-hardened vets in the form of LeBron and his wingman, Anthony Davis.
AD was awful in game 2, playing with a passivity that was hard to understand given all that was at stake. If the Lakers had been able to win both games in Memphis to grab a 2-0 series lead coming back to LA, they would have been practically guaranteed to win the series. Instead, the Memphis win ensured that the series will be highly competitive and probably go six or seven games.
After that game AD took full ownership of his poor performance and vowed to do better next game.
“We can’t win with me playing like that,” a chastened AD told reporters as they gathered around his locker. “I’ll come out with a different mindset next game.”
He was true to his word: AD scored 31 points on both inside and outside shots, blocked five shots and grabbed 17 rebounds while dominating the 6-foot-11 Jackson, one of the best young big men in the entire league.
The Lakers won game three but there were plenty of terrific performances on both sides. After grabbing that 35-9 first quarter lead, the Lakers hit a three-pointer to start the second period that grew the lead to 38-9 as the home crowd, packed with celebrities just like in the old days, sat back to enjoy the slaughter.
But the Grizz weren’t having it. From that point on they outplayed and outscored the Lakers behind Morant, who proved once again that he is one of the brightest young stars in the league. Although a wispy 6-foot-2 and 170 pounds, he is jet-propelled going up and down the court and spring-loaded whenever he goes up in the air to dunk or to block a shot.
And the amazing part is that he wasn’t supposed to play at all after badly injuring his right (shooting) hand when he tried to dunk over AD late in game 1. The Grizz won game 2 without him, and there was a lot of doubt he could play in game 3.
But he was in the starting lineup and dominated the game’s second half while scoring 45 points – including an incredible 22 consecutive points in the fourth quarter when the Grizz were mounting one last comeback charge. In the end, the Lakers 29-point lead early in the second quarter proved too much for the Grizz to overcome. But there was so much emotion, so much effort and energy, so much crowd involvement that the whole night was exhausting as much as it was exhilarating.
LeBron admitted he had left it all on the floor after being inspired by the crowd’s passion.
“It was amazing,” LeBron said. “Just amazing.”
As for his “feud” with Brooks, LeBron tried to downplay it.
“I don’t really get caught up in any comments like that,” he said. “At the end of the day, my focus is on 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.”
And when the media mob approached Brooks in the Memphis locker room to get his explanation for his dirty play and how he feels about LeBron now, he had a simple answer that ended the Q&A right there.
“I ain’t talking,” Brooks said.
Now there’s a man who learned his lesson well.
Clippers curse reborn
The Clippers Curse, supposedly dead and buried a decade ago when racist nut-job owner Donald Sterling was forced to sell the team to multi-billionaire Steve Ballmer, came roaring back to life this week.
And the timing could not have been worse.
Their playoff series with the Phoenix Suns had started so well: The Clippers beat the Suns in game one, and even though they lost a very close game two, their superstar Kawhi Leonard was playing so well that the absence of second star Paul George with a sprained knee didn’t really seem to matter.
After sitting out all of last season with a knee injury, Kawhi had come back this season as a part-time player who was nowhere near the unstoppable force he had been before his latest injury. But in the last 25-30 games he had improved so much and so steadily that he was nearing his top form, where he is every bit the go-to player that LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jayson Tatum are.
And their late season pick-up off the scrap heap, point guard Russell Westbrook, had essentially replaced PG in the role of Kawhi’s sidekick after scoring 30 points in the second game. With the series tied at 1-1 and moving back to LA for two Clipper home games, their prospects were bright.
Then the numbingly familiar news broke Thursday afternoon: Kawhi would not play because of “knee soreness.”
No details, no recovery timetable, no nothing: just the utterly depressing news that Kawhi would once again be watching from the bench with his usual stoic demeanor whether his team is up or down at the moment. If they’re leading, he offers no “Let’s go” type of encouragement. If they’re trailing, he maintains the same poker face while offering no strategy suggestions, no in-game tactics to turn the tide. As a player, he’s great. As an inspirational leader, he’s a lead balloon.
After four years of this maddening behavior and playing less than half his team’s games, his habitual disengagement has worn thin with dedicated Clippers fans who expected more when the Clippers signed him and then traded away their best young player – Shai Gilgeous Alexander, who is now a top ten player in the entire NBA – and five future first round draft picks to OKC to get Paul George, the player Kawhi demanded they acquire if they wanted him to sign with them.
With both Kawhi and PG still out with injuries, the Clippers now have no chance to win their series with the Suns and will probably be eliminated Tuesday night, barring a miraculous comeback by either one of their two stars.
The Clippers are due to move into their new multi-billion-dollar Inglewood arena – the Intuit Dome – in the fall of 2024. So they might as well give the Kawhi-PG tandem one more shot next season.
But if they fail again next season, Ballmer and his management team will have to think seriously about undertaking a total rebuild at the same time they make the move to their new home.
Otherwise, Clippers fans will have nothing to look forward to but more frustration as far as the eye can see.
One more year of this frustrating failure and it will be time for the Clippers curse to be buried once and for all. And what better place for the burial than Crypto.com Arena, better known as the Crypt?
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com. Follow: @paulteetor. ER
