Dillon Brooks defended teammate Amen Thompson towards accusations of soiled play following a controversial incident that Jimmy Butler III injured in Recreation 2 of the Houston Rockets’ playoff collection towards the Golden State Warriors. Brooks as an alternative pointed the finger at Draymond Inexperienced.
“No, I feel the soiled participant is Draymond [Green], giving him just a little push as common basketball gamers do,” Brooks stated Friday forward of Saturday’s Recreation 3. “And Jimmy’s combating within the air for a rebound and stuff occurs. Amen’s not a unclean participant. He has [nothing] to do with being a unclean participant.”
Butler suffered a pelvic contusion and deep gluteal muscle contusion when Thompson took out his legs on a tough foul throughout Houston’s 109-94 victory that evened the first-round collection at 1-1. Butler is listed as questionable for Recreation 3 at Chase Heart.
Steve Kerr defended Thompson’s actions instantly after the sport.
“We did not suppose there was something mistaken with the play,” Kerr stated. “It was simply a type of performs.”
When knowledgeable of Brooks’ feedback about Inexperienced on Friday, Kerr responded with a quick, “Dillon stated that? Fascinating.”
Moses Moody appeared to search out irony in Brooks’ accusation, noting, “It is just a little ironic is not it?” This referred to Brooks’ historical past with the Warriors, as his flagrant foul 2 on Gary Payton II through the 2022 Western Convention semifinals fractured Payton’s elbow when Brooks was with the Memphis Grizzlies.
“It is apparent it wasn’t intentional,” Ime Udoka stated. “You have a look at all of the our bodies in between and [Thompson] getting bumped and tripped and the way in which he fell. You do not fall into any individual face first on objective.”
Recreation 2 featured rising tensions, with technical fouls assessed to gamers on each groups within the second half. Rockets guard Jalen Inexperienced acquired a flagrant foul after placing Draymond Inexperienced within the face with a flailing arm.
“Amen’s clearly not a unclean participant,” Udoka stated. “There is a distinction between aggressive, bodily play and being soiled and you would query a few of their issues as properly on their finish.”
Brooks maintained that the Rockets should stay centered on Recreation 3 reasonably than the encompassing controversy.
“We’re not anxious about that,” he stated. “We’re on to the subsequent recreation and we hope Jimmy can get higher.”
