MEMPHIS — LeBron James is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, a four-time MVP, a four-time champion and a 19-time All-Star.
For the Grizzlies’ Dillon Brooks, LeBron is “old.”
“I poke bears — I don’t respect anyone until they come and give me 40[points],” Brooks said.
The context for this is that James and Brooks started yelling at each other with 8:06 left in the third quarter of the Grizzlies’ 103-93 win over the Lakers in Game 2 of this Western Conference playoff series. The Lakers were a point down at 20, but James started bringing them back, and when Brooks was called for his fourth foul, LeBron said to him, according to Brooks, “You’re stupid for getting that foul.”
And when asked about the post-game swap, Brooks said things about James that literally no one in the NBA has said in their illustrious career, certainly not in one sitting.
“I don’t care — he’s old,” Brooks said. “I was expecting him (trash talk) Game 4, Game 5.”
During his eight-minute post-game interview, during which Brooks wore dark sunglasses, jeans and a shirtless vest, the somber defender and known troublemaker said the following about James, in no particular order:
“He’s not at the same level as when he was in Cleveland and winning championships in Miami. I wish I could see that. I mean, it would have been a harder, harder task (guarding him).”
“He’s a special player. … Those special players, they want to play in space, they don’t want to be touched … but when you get to the playoffs and bumps are allowed and stuff like that, it bothers him.”
“Just wear him through a seven-game streak and see if he can take it — see if he wants to play the one-on-one or stand on the sidelines.”
James, who is 38 and plays on an injured foot that he said was recommended for surgery, was not asked about Brooks during his post-game interview.
James scored 28 points on 12-of-23 shooting but was only 1-of-8 from 3-point range. He scored 21 on 8-of-16 shooting in the Lakers’ Game 1 win.
Brooks was the Grizzlies’ main defender on James and has been looking to bolster the 6-8, 260-pound scoring machine. Brooks said: “It’s going well. I try to tire him out with little bumps here and there without fouling.”
As for the pinching between them, Brooks said his response to James was, “Finally you want to talk.”
“And then we started talking,” Brooks continued. “I just let him know that you can’t take me alone. you didn’t watch the movie Up until this moment he doesn’t really take me one on one. When he was substituted, he was tired. So I did my job.”
Brooks got a chance to clarify one of his statements – that he doesn’t “respect” James – and he said: “Obviously I have some respect. He is a legend. He is LeBron James. But you know, when I’m on this floor, you’re just another player to me. I don’t care who you are You’re only 6-8, 270 pounds. And you’re a basketball player.”
Brooks also admitted, “I’m making a name for myself. You know, I can’t look at these guys like ‘he’s LeBron James’.”
Brooks was rated 18 technical checks during the regular season, which resulted in two one-game suspensions, and he was involved in a fight with Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell. He said he’d been booed during Grizzlies’ games in Los Angeles this season, so he doesn’t care about the reaction his comments were sure to evoke.
Maybe he should think about how LeBron reacts. Yes, he’s getting older, but James is known to have turned even minor slights into historic vendettas. When Klay Thompson told LeBron after Game 4 of the 2016 finals that the NBA was a “men’s league,” James responded with back-to-back 41-point games and a triple-double in Game 7 to complete the only comeback of one 3-1 deficit in finals history.
“I got him today,” Brooks said. “I got him to talk to me. So we’ll see in Game 3 if he keeps talking and I’m in.”
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(Photo: Petre Thomas / USA Today)