The feud between Dillon Brooks and LeBron James goes back at least a year to when the Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Lakers faced off in a first-round playoff series. Brooks joined the Houston Rockets as a free agent before this season and has taken his antagonism toward James to his new team.
Monday’s matchup between the Lakers and Rockets in Houston provided the latest chapter in this story with Brooks taunting James after hitting a shot against him. But tensions became more serious when the Rockets forward committed a flagrant foul against the Lakers star by striking him across the face.
However, Brooks directed his hostilities toward James’s Lakers teammates earlier in the game. During the second quarter, he shoved Jarred Vanderbilt in the back on a drive to the basket. That provoked Vanderbilt to retaliate by shoving Brooks a few plays later , which resulted in him getting ejected.
Brooks’s tactics may have accomplished their purpose as the Rockets defeated the Lakers, 135–119. James still had 23 points, as did Anthony Davis and D’Angelo Russell . But the Lakers didn’t have an answer for Jalen Green (34 points) and Alperen Şengün (31).