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 believe the soiled participant is Draymond [Green], giving him a bit of push as common basketball gamers do,” Brooks mentioned Friday forward of Saturday’s Recreation 3. “And Jimmy’s preventing 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 Middle.
Steve Kerr defended Thompson’s actions instantly after the sport.
“We did not assume there was something incorrect with the play,” Kerr mentioned. “It was simply a type of performs.”
When knowledgeable of Brooks’ feedback about Inexperienced on Friday, Kerr responded with a short, “Dillon mentioned that? Attention-grabbing.”
Moses Moody appeared to search out irony in Brooks’ accusation, noting, “It is a bit of ironic is not it?” This referred to Brooks’ historical past with the Warriors, as his flagrant foul 2 on Gary Payton II throughout 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 mentioned. “You take 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 someone face first on goal.”
Recreation 2 featured growing tensions, with technical fouls assessed to gamers on each groups within the second half. Rockets guard Jalen Inexperienced obtained a flagrant foul after placing Draymond Inexperienced within the face with a flailing arm.
“Amen’s clearly not a unclean participant,” Udoka mentioned. “There is a distinction between aggressive, bodily play and being soiled and you might query a few of their issues as effectively on their finish.”
Brooks maintained that the Rockets should stay targeted on Recreation 3 somewhat than the encompassing controversy.
“We’re not frightened about that,” he mentioned. “We’re on to the following sport and we hope Jimmy can get higher.”
