MEMPHIS – Draymond Green frustrated Dillon Brooks on Thursday night.
After exchanging barbs through the media, Green responded to Brooks’ recent criticism with a scathing segment on his podcast on Wednesday, taking Brooks one-on-one when the Memphis Grizzlies hosted the Golden State Warriors. Looking forward to continuing the conversation. An opportunity presented itself when Brooks stole the ball and drove for a layup over Green late in the second quarter before he was hit with a chest.
Green didn’t say anything at the time.
“I wanted that kind of play, just to see what he was going to say,” Brooks said after the Grizzlies’ short-handed 131–110 win at FedExForum. “But he took the media approach with it and didn’t say anything, which is good. I was expecting him to talk a little bit more, but I think he needs to get all his facts together and talk. “
After the game, Green shrugged off questions about Brooks and accused Brooks of unsuccessfully attempting to draw him in a technical foul, which would have been Green’s 16th of the season, resulting in a one-game suspension. .
Green said, “He thought he’d want to trap me, like he’s trapped.” “When I want to get technical fouls I get technical fouls. I don’t get technical fouls. So, I think that’s probably the difference between me and him. If I do that to him, it’s a double There will be technology.” , because he will answer. But it’s not dual technology, because I didn’t answer. One of us is fodder, one of us isn’t.”
Green scoffed at the suggestion that the Grizzlies and Warriors had developed a rivalry. In his mind, Memphis hasn’t accomplished enough as a franchise to earn rival status with Golden State, which ousted the Grizzlies in the Western Conference semifinals last season.
“One team has to win, and then the other team has to win,” Green said. “That’s what creates the rivalry. Not because a team gets up to you and talks like they can beat you and then doesn’t. That doesn’t create the rivalry. The rivalry is created by you, I win. Obviously , we’ve won four times, and I think they have zero championships in their organization, so I can’t count it as a rivalry.”
As far as Green is concerned, the unilateral loss on March 9 is irrelevant to the conversation.
“Anyone can win in March,” said Green. “Anybody can win in March. What does that mean? I find it hard to get out of bed in March. What does the game mean in March?”
The Grizzlies have the distinction of ending the Warriors season in 2021 by defeating Golden State on the road in the second play-in game.
Brooks said, “They never forget. When they won the championship, they were talking about us.” “They never forget who the Memphis Grizzlies are. They turn up and they can’t wait to play us.”
Brooks, who had 14 points and six assists and was the primary guard over Stephen Curry in the win, said Green was “making it a rivalry” by talking so much.
Brooks accused Green of “just using my name to get his podcast out. He should at least say thank you.”
Brooks said his teammates showed him video clips from Green’s podcast after Green responded to Brooks’ quote from an interview with ESPN’s Tim Keon about why he doesn’t like Green, which was published last week. . Brooks scoffed when discussing Green’s implication that his Memphis teammates did not like him and that the Grizzlies could not win a title with him.
“There were some strange things,” Brooks said. “I’m not a championship player. I think what I said was fact, and we’ll see at the end of the year what they do with that.”
However, Brooks insisted that Green’s podcast appearances did not bother him.
Brooks said, “No, because I know I’m a better player than him.” “I can do what he does. It’s easy. It’s just showing up to work. Me, I try to score. I try to figure out plays. I try to play for my team.” I try to call the plays. Just the fact that he was trying to pin his teammates against me, he was a low blow. So what kind of player is he.
“These are my guys. We’ve grown it together. I’m not getting into physical altercations with my teammates. I sit there talking to them, not trying to break them down, but build them up.”
