This is what Dillon Brooks does.
Monday night he flirted with a flagrant foul, was disrespectful and pushed the buttons of the Lakers’ Jarred Vanderbilt — and it worked, Vanderbilt was ejected early in the second quarter of the Lakers game in Houston.
Here is the context behind why Vanderbilt was fired up — Brooks pushed him in the air during a dunk and Vanderbilt landed awkwardly. After review, it was ruled a common foul (I think any foul like that of a player in the air is dangerous and should be a flagrant, but that’s not what was ruled here).
— Chris Scorch (@ChrisScorch) January 30, 2024
A minute later, Vanderbilt and Brooks were pushing for position for a rebound, Brooks pushed — apparently in the back of his head — then Vanderbilt responded with a shove and drew the whistle (it’s always the retaliation). That was the first technical, Vanderbilt walking up and trying to touch Brooks in the back of the head was the second and Vanderbilt was sent to the showers.
Jarred Vanderbilt was ejected after getting into it with Dillon Brooks. pic.twitter.com/1yq3qvAnMp
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) January 30, 2024
This is what Brooks does.
Vanderbilt is too important to this team to put himself in position to be ejected for something like this. He probably should be a starter (Laker Nation wants him to be), but Darvin Ham feels stuck. Four Lakers starters are a lock — LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell — and Vanderbilt as the fifth would provide good defense, but his offensive limitations means opponents help off him and there is less room for LeBron and others to operate. That’s why Ham starts Taurean Prince, shooting 38.9% from 3 this season, spacing the floor and opening up the offense. The Lakers would love to trade for a player who could do both, but so would 29 other teams, which is why the value for 3&D wings is so high.
Vanderbilt often closes games for the Lakers, but he will not be closing this one.
