In his exit interview on Sunday, Memphis Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks reflected on his comments toward LeBron James and said he doesn’t think the verbal jabs elevated the Los Angeles Lakers star’s play in the series.
“That’s who I am,” the Mississauga native said. “I don’t regret it, I’m a competitor, I compete. I don’t think it got LeBron geeked up. He’s back in the playoffs, it’s been a little while. So I think he was ready to play.
“Overall we got beat by a better team. Bigger team, guys that have their whole team, the pieces there.”
Brooks stirred up a social media storm after calling James “old” and saying “I poke bears” after Memphis evened the series at one.
In the next game, the 27-year-old received a flagrant-2 foul for hitting James in the groin and was ejected early into the second half.
The Lakers ended up winning the series led by James’ 22.2 points, 11.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists over the six games.
Meanwhile, Brooks struggled throughout the series, shooting just 31.2 per cent from the field and 23.8 per cent from three, which only accentuated the trash talk he dished out early in the series.
“That’s who I am, that’s what I’m going to be. At the end of the day, it’s just competition, it’s competing,” Brooks said when asked if the perception of him takes away from what he does on the court. “Most people are scared to compete and that’s why they get rattled or feel some type of way when I play against them.
“I’m trying to compete at the highest level I can. That’s the only way I got into this league . . . I’m not going to change, I’m going to keep doing what I do and get better.”
Brooks now becomes an unrestricted free agent after his sixth season in Memphis. He has played in 345 games and averaged 14.5 points per game in his career.
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