“If you ever wondered why the Memphis Grizzlies is not ready to compete for a championship, look no further than this idiot right here,” said Draymond Green about Dillon Brooks on his podcast, The Draymond Green Show, ahead of the Warriors’ March 9th matchup with the Grizzlies.
In an interview prior to Green’s comments, Brooks said, “I don’t like Draymond at all. Draymond talks a lot. Gets away with a lot, too. His game is cool -- with Golden State -- but if you put him anywhere else, you're not going to know who Draymond is. He plays with heart, plays hard, knows the ins and outs of their defense. I guess that's why they like him over there.”
Despite a couple of backhanded complements, Brooks has been adamant about his disliking for Green and, to no one’s surprise, Green doesn’t like Brooks either.
So, why do two guys who play similar roles on their respective teams and resemble two different sides of the same coin dislike each other so much?
The two hot heads have had a hostile relationship for some time now, dating back to last year’s Western Conference Semi-Finals when Brooks whacked Warriors’ guard Gary Payton II on the side of the head, knocking Payton II out of the air and onto the floor.
Payton II broke his arm on the egregious foul, forcing him to miss the remainder of the playoffs. After the game, Warriors' coach Steve Kerr expressed his suspicion of Brooks' malintent when he said, “He broke the code, Dillon Brooks broke the code.”
This season, on Christmas Day, after knocking down a midrange jump shot, Warriors’ guard Klay Thompson stood over Brooks, taunting the Golden State villain as he mean-mugged down the court to celebrate the game-sealing shot.
Today, the Warriors find themselves in the 7th seed in the West, looking up at the 2nd seed Grizzlies. However, the Warriors have an ongoing dilemma surrounding their crotch-kicking, foul-committing defensive presence that is Draymond Green -- his tendency to foul... technically.
Green finds himself just 1 technical foul away from serving a one-game suspension at a point in the season in which the playoff race in the West is tighter than ever. The Warriors cannot afford to lose Green for any of their final games down the stretch, but history would say the likelihood of that is quite low, while the probability of a Green technical foul is through the roof.
Ironically, Brooks and Green lead the league at 1st and 2nd in technical fouls. Brooks, the league leader, has already served his one game suspension for exceeding his 16th technical foul, and the Grizzlies sit pretty in the 2nd seed in the West as they await the return of superstar IG Live daredevil Ja Morant.
In the most recent matchup between Brooks and Green on March 9th, while the Warriors had the Grizzlies’ number in the past, Brooks and co. blew the splash bros out of the water in a statement game for the Morant—less Grizzlies. After the game, in an interview with TNT’s Jared Greenberg, Brooks had this to say about Green:
“I told him that, you know, keep that mic. He’s better at that mic than hooping… Keep doing his podcast, keeping blogging, keep doing his thing off the court. It’s cute, it’s fun for him.”
Clearly, there’s no love lost between Brooks and Green, and for entertainment’s sake, I sure hope these two meet again in the playoffs. Will cooler heads prevail? No, but ratings will!
He who laughs last, laughs loudest.
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