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History shows Dillon Brooks' trash-talking ways only end in failure
Dillon Brooks is a tenacious defender and a supremely confident trash talker. But in the playoffs, his brash rhetoric tends to blow up in his face.
Dillon Brooks and Jimmy Butler having words at the free throw line then Butler pushes Brooks down. pic.twitter.com/ixqoxrHzZU
— Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) April 29, 2025
Brooks got into it with Jimmy Butler late in the first half of the Golden State Warriors' 109-106 win over the Houston Rockets in Game 4 of their first-round series. At the time, Butler had just four points. In the second half, fired up by Brooks, Butler went for 23 points, including the Warriors' final seven points of the game. After halftime, Brooks had zero points.
After the game, Butler revealed that the trash talk was not fun and games, and he decidedly did not like Brooks.
"I don't like Dillon Brooks." -- Jimmy Butler pic.twitter.com/84vxd5v4bz
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) April 29, 2025
Two years ago, Brooks' Memphis Grizzlies were tied 1-1 with the Los Angeles Lakers when he decided to trash-talk LeBron James, declaring James was "old" and that he didn't "respect anyone until they come and give me 40."
Classic Dillon Brooks on his confrontation with LeBron James: “I don’t care. He’s old. … I poke bears. I don’t respect someone until he gives me 40.”
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) April 20, 2023
And Brooks had plenty more to say. pic.twitter.com/uWLONrubPZ
James didn't score 40, but he did put up 25 in the next game while Brooks got ejected for "poking" James in the groin.
Lakers’ LeBron James takes below the belt shot from Grizzlies’ Dillon Brooks (flagrant foul 2, ejection) pic.twitter.com/IgBFRNA3a0
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) April 23, 2023
James then sent Game 4 of the series to overtime by scoring on a drive while Brooks moved away from him, then scored through a foul by Brooks to ice the game. For the series, James scored 61.1 percent while guarded by Brooks. He never did scored 40 points, but the Lakers won Game 6 by 40 points, so it's not clear if Brooks respected him afterward.
The problem with Brooks' self-appointed role as the irritant to opposing stars is that he can't back it up on offense. He's averaging 12.8 points for the series with more turnovers than assists. Brooks relentlessly trash talked the Warriors during their 2022 playoff series and he averaged 12.4 points and shot 31.4 percent in that six-game loss, getting himself thrown out of Game 2.
There may be players who get intimidated by Brooks in the regular season, but his aggression doesn't seem to do anything to superstars except make them focus even harder on defeating Brooks. No matter if it's literal or figurative, poking bears usually doesn't end well.
More must-reads:
- Warriors win a nail-biter to take a 3-1 series lead over Rockets
- Watch: Warriors and Rockets have first-half altercations in Game 4
- The 'LeBron's championship teammates' quiz
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