ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith didn’t hold back regarding the ejection of Rockets forward Dillon Brooks in Phoenix: “This is the kind of stuff that hurts the league, right here.”
Given Sunday’s blowout victory over the Suns, the second-quarter ejection of veteran forward Dillon Brooks didn’t prove costly to the Houston Rockets in Phoenix.
It did, however, draw attention throughout the league. That includes veteran NBA media personality Stephen A. Smith, who posted a social-media message in defense of Brooks during the game.
Then, on ESPN’s First Take the next morning, Smith expanded upon his thoughts. As is customary, he didn’t hold back.
Among Smith’s comments:
He didn’t do anything that warranted of an ejection from this game. We all love the league and we all support the league, but this is the kind of stuff that hurts the league right here.
Dillon Brooks had no business to be ejected. You can’t be talking about the love of the game and how much we should love and support the game, and you go rob the fans of a game. It doesn’t matter that he’s not LeBron (James) nor Steph Curry. He can play, and he is a contributor to that team.
Brooks received two technicals from referee Justin Van Duyne, while the two Suns players involved in the same skirmish — Kevin Durant and Nick Richards — only received one. As of late Monday, the NBA had yet to offer a detailed explanation for why Brooks was disciplined more severely.
“I’m literally courtside and did not hear Dillon say anything egregious,” Space City Home Network’s Vanessa Richardson wrote. “I don’t get it.”
“The reason he (Dillon) reacted that way is because they only pointed at him,” Rockets head coach Ime Udoka said of Brooks’ reaction to the officials, which presumably led to him being disciplined more severely than Durant and Richards.
According to the Rockets (via Danielle Lerner of the Houston Chronicle), Brooks is now at 15 technicals for the 2024-25 regular season. If neither technical versus Phoenix is rescinded — and it hasn’t been, as of publication time — a subsequent 16th technical would trigger an automatic suspension for Houston’s following game. (Houston currently has seven regular-season games left to play.)
Player technical-foul counts reset at zero for the playoffs, with a different threshold (based on fewer games) used for postseason suspensions.
Now 29 years old, Brooks is averaging 13.9 points per game this season on almost 40% shooting from 3-point range. He remains one of the best and most versatile defensive players on the Rockets, who are rated No. 4 out of the NBA’s 30 teams on defense. Brooks is also extremely well regarded within the team as a locker-room leader and an influential veteran voice.
After Sunday’s win, Houston (49-26) is No. 2 in the Western Conference standings and has won 12 of its past 13 games, overall. Brooks is a key contributor to that success on both ends of the court.
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