Given Sunday's blowout victory over the Suns, the second-quarter ejection of veteran forward Dillon Brooks didn't prove costly to the Houston Rockets in Phoenix.
It did, however, draw attention throughout the league. That includes veteran NBA media personality Stephen A. Smith, who posted a social-media message in defense of Brooks during the game.
Then, on ESPN's First Take the next morning, Smith expanded upon his thoughts. As is customary, he didn't hold back.
He didn't do anything that warranted of an ejection from this game. We all love the league and we all support the league, but this is the kind of stuff that hurts the league right here.
Dillon Brooks had no business to be ejected. You can't be talking about the love of the game and how much we should love and support the game, and you go rob the fans of a game. It doesn't matter that he's not LeBron (James) nor Steph Curry. He can play, and he is a contributor to that team.
Stephen A. Smith on first take saying the Dillon Brooks ejection was nonsense: pic.twitter.com/eRWHhmo3yo
— Bradeaux (@BradeauxNBA) March 31, 2025
Brooks received two technicals, while the two Suns players involved in the same skirmish — Kevin Durant and Nick Richards — only received one. As of late Monday, the NBA had yet to offer a detailed explanation for why Brooks was disciplined more severely.
"I’m literally courtside and did not hear Dillon say anything egregious," Space City Home Network's Vanessa Richardson wrote. "I don’t get it."
!!!!
— Vanessa Richardson (@SportsVanessa) March 31, 2025
I’m literally courtside and did not hear Dillon say anything egregious. I don’t get it. https://t.co/Mc5ESkc7j6
“The reason he (Dillon) reacted that way is because they only pointed at him,” Rockets head coach Ime Udoka said of Brooks' reaction to the officials, which presumably led to him being disciplined more severely than Durant and Richards.
According to the Rockets (via Danielle Lerner of the Houston Chronicle), Brooks is now at 15 technicals for the 2024-25 regular season. If neither technical versus Phoenix is rescinded — and it hasn't been, as of publication time — a subsequent 16th technical would trigger an automatic suspension for Houston's following game.
The technical-foul counts do reset at zero for the playoffs,
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