Different places but the same faces is the main theme heading into an upcoming matchup between Donovan Mitchell, Dillon Brooks, and their two squads, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Houston Rockets. Neither player liked the other when the Cavs star was with the Utah Jazz and Brooks was with the Memphis Grizzlies. They would battle as Western Conference up-and-comers, with Mitchell as a scoring star and Brooks as a star irritant. When Mitchell and Brooks were with Utah and Memphis respectively, there were fourteen career meetings in the regular season and five more in the playoffs.
Fast forward to now, with Mitchell now with the Cavs, the animosity hit a new level in early 2023. Mitchell and Cleveland hosted Brooks, who was still with Memphis in February, where things reached maximum volatility during the second half. At the 5:48 mark of the third quarter, with the Cavs leading 81-76, Brooks missed a shot and fell in the lane. While on the floor, he rolled onto Mitchell’s ankle, flung his arm back, and struck Mitchell, who had just collected the rebound and was standing over him, in the groin area.
Mitchell dropped in pain and angrily retaliated by firing the ball at Brooks. The two players eventually got up, pushing and shoving ensued along the baseline in front of the Memphis bench. The fracas nearly spilled into the crowd sitting courtside, but players from either team and officials alike were able to break it up before any punches were thrown. Soon after Mitchell and Brooks were both ejected for their actions and somehow, the game continued with the Cavs eventually knocking off the Grizzlies 128-113
“Tough when you can’t guard somebody and can’t do something with somebody; you have to resort to that,” Mitchell said after the win over Memphis. “I’m not typically someone who gets ejected for stuff like that. But at the end of the day, I think my reaction was reacting to a cheap shot. If punishment doesn’t come from that, he’s just going to keep doing it. It’s just dumb, to be honest with you, and I’m going to appeal it because I don’t think I should’ve gotten ejected for defending myself.
“I’m not going to say like, ‘Oh it should be this, it should be that.’ But it should be something. This isn’t just a Donovan thing. This has happened to other players throughout this league. And it’s bullshit. It’s complete bullshit. They talk shit and that’s fine. That’s all part of basketball. We all grew up playing that way. But when you start doing little cheap shit like that, that ain’t it.”
Now with the Houston Rockets, Brooks is still up to his usual antics, carrying the fake toughness from Memphis with him. Whether he was just standing there, menacingly, watching Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets warm up. Or doing the same thing to LeBron James, who seemingly lives in Brooks' head rent free, while the Los Angeles Lakers warmed up. It's all the same Brooks everyone knows and hates just in a different uniform or the first time in his NBA career.
But, with things hitting an entirely different level last time Brooks antagonized Mitchell in Cleveland, it'll be something to keep an eye on during the lead-up to the battle between the Rockets and the Cavs. Hopefully, it doesn't hit the same level as last time. But either way, it's going to be the primary focus both on and off the court.
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