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Dave McMenamin, ESPN writer
HOUSTON — After Jarred Vanderbilt was ejected in the first half of Monday’s 135-119 loss to the Houston Rockets for a confrontation with Dillon Brooks, several members of the Los Angeles Lakers defended Vanderbilt’s actions against the agitated forward. Houston.
Brooks fouled Vanderbilt on a dunk with 11:03 left in the second quarter while Vanderbilt was in the air. Not long after, Brooks poked Vanderbilt with his arm while he was under the basket as Austin Reaves hit a jump shot with 10:17 left in the second. Vanderbilt responded by shoving Brooks in the chest with his forearm, drawing a technical foul from referee Eric Dalen.
A moment later, Vanderbilt touched his finger to the side of Brooks’ head and crew chief Curtis Blair evaluated another coach and ejected him from the game. A Lakers player told ESPN that Brooks called Vanderbilt a “moron” during the exchange.
“He was going to do an open dunk and (Brooks) just shoved him in the back,” Anthony Davis said. “It’s not a safe play. Guys get hurt like that. And you have to know what kind of player (Brooks) is. (The refs) let that keep happening and (Brooks) caused it. He speaks up and says what he wants to the refs. , to the players and at the end of the day, we are men.
“No man is going to talk to another man the way he talked to Vando. So, Vando did what he had to do.”
Vanderbilt left without speaking to reporters.
Brooks said Vanderbilt escalated the confrontation. “I feel like he might feel like I made a dirty play,” Brooks said. “When he feels like that, he likes to clash. It’s basketball. We clash and fight. I feel like he took it too far.”
After Vanderbilt was ejected, with the Lakers trailing 46-36 early in the second quarter, the Rockets took control, increasing their lead to as many as 30 points midway through the third. Los Angeles, trailing by 24 points entering the fourth, attempted to make a push with LeBron James staying in the game even though the Lakers had to travel to Atlanta for the second night of a back-to-back on Tuesday.
The Lakers were down 16 with 5:45 left when Jae’Sean Tate missed a layup and Brooks went over James’ back on the rebound attempt, hitting the Lakers star in the face. After a video review by the referees, Brooks was assessed a flagrant foul 1 for the contact. James, who credited Brooks’ competitive fire when asked earlier this season about the lucrative contract Brooks signed in Houston, cut off a reporter’s question about Brooks after the game.
“Next question,” James said.
Lakers coach Darvin Ham said both Brooks’ push on Vanderbilt and the hit on James were enough to warrant an ejection on their own, in his opinion.
“Being competitive is one thing,” Ham said. “But… putting players at risk of injury with certain plays. I just saw it again (on video) before I came here, (Brooks) pushes him in the back, a guy who’s in the air. In the air, defenseless. Then Bron’s play, Bron goes to the basket and makes a double movement with his arms. One arm tries to deflect the ball and it comes back and then goes over (James’) face.
“So maybe Dillon Brooks shouldn’t have been in the game either.”
Davis echoed his coach’s opinion on both plays.
“I mean, you get a serious foul,” Davis said. “That’s part of basketball, but you’re not going to blatantly shove someone in the back when he has no control of his body and he’s in the air. And he should have been ejected for that. And then you meet him and Bron. They had their (collision) and from what I saw, it was just a blatant punch to LeBron in the face.”
Ham added, “I take my hat off to Vando” for how he responded by confronting Brooks.
Brooks told reporters that he continues to bring an “alpha dog mentality” to games and has made adjustments to the way he controls himself since leaving the Memphis Grizzlies and joining the Rockets.
“Last year I let things go too far,” Brooks said. “Now I feel like I have control over it. It’s just bringing the energy of knowing that certain things you do, you can take them too far. And playing within the lines.”