Dillon Brooks’ Nut-Tap Penalty Was Right
Brooks doesn’t agree with the penalty after he hit LeBron, but it was right.
Dillon Brooks is one of the most hated players in the NBA right now.
He’s a pest and he talks a bunch of trash. He’s the Memphis Grizzlies’ enforcer. He’s there to cause chaos and wreak havoc.
But, for whatever reason, he thinks the media made up that “villain” narrative and he disagrees with the label.
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Via ESPN:
"The media making me a villain, the fans making me a villain and then that just creates a whole different persona on me," Brooks said.
He also said that because of this label, officials referee him differently, where they are tougher on him.
He uses the situation between him and LeBron James in Game 3 of the first round as an example.
"So now you think I intended to hit LeBron James in the nuts. I'm playing basketball. I'm a basketball player. So if I intended -- and that's whatever is in the flagrant 2 category -- if you think I did that, that means you think I'm that type of person."
But the thing with what he said is that the majority of players would have been handed a Flagrant 2 or suspended one game in that situation -enforcer label or not.
So, it’s not because of his reputation. Hitting someone in the nuts in that manner -intentional or not- is dirty and the nut hitter would get ejected from the game (or suspended the following one).
And he should be glad that that’s all he got.
In 2016, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Dahntay Jones did a similar thing to Brooks, where he nut-tapped the Toronto Raptors’ Bismack Biyombo as he was wrestling for a rebound and was suspended one game.
Brooks just had to miss the remainder of Game 3.
However, I will add that referees need to be more consistent with their officiating.
In the same year that Jones got suspended, Draymond Green -Brooks’ idol- wasn’t handed a suspension for kicking Steven Adams in the groin twice in one series.
And even in this year’s playoff, there have been some questionable calls.
So yeah, there needs to be more consistency with the officiating, but the penalty handed to Brooks, in my opinion (and I am biased), was the right call.
Victor Oladipo Injury
Another thing I wanted to talk about briefly was Victor Oladipo’s injury.
The Miami Heat wing suffered a season-ending injury in Game 3 of their first-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks.
He tore his patellar tendon in his left knee and will miss the rest of the postseason.
Oladipo has been on and off of the court and dealing with injuries since he ruptured his quad tendon in 2019.
He’s a player I’ve been rooting for and I just wanted to wish him a speedy recovery.
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