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 did nothing. 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.
That does not warrant an ejection whatsoever. There was not a scuffle, or anything.
When you eject a player over something like that, you have no regard for the fans. Zero. The fans come to see them play. 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’s not a superstar. But damn it, he can play, and he is a contributor to that squad in Houston… which, by the way, is growing more and more legit, every single day.
To eject him over that is utterly ridiculous. At some point in time, there has to be heightened level of sensitivity on the part of the officials. Just take a moment. These guys are just yanking cats out of the game, and I don’t like it at all.
First Take panelists Kendrick Perkins and Shannon Sharpe — Perkins a former NBA player, and Sharpe a former National Football League (NFL) player — both agreed with Smith’s assessment.
Stephen A. Smith on first take saying the Dillon Brooks ejection was nonsense: pic.twitter.com/eRWHhmo3yo
Brooks received two technicals from referee Justin Van Duyne, while the two Suns players involved in the same incident — 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.”
!!!!
I’m literally courtside and did not hear Dillon say anything egregious. I don’t get it. https://t.co/Mc5ESkc7j6
“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.
Dillon Brooks EJECTED after an exchange with KD pic.twitter.com/J1XAeYY3kb
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.
More: With 33 points, Jalen Green blasts Suns again as Rockets win for 12th time in 13 games
Ime Udoka on Dillon Brooks’ ejection
“The reason he (Dillon) reacted that way is because they only pointed at him.” pic.twitter.com/6Ys7xXWAb3
This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: ‘Utterly ridiculous’: ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith blasts NBA refs for Dillon Brooks ejection
Reporting by Ben DuBose, Rockets Wire / Rockets Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
