When Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks committed a hard foul on Warriors guard Gary Payton II in an eventual 106-101 Game 2 Memphis win, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr had harsh words for the play.
“There’s a code that players follow,” Kerr said at the time. “Dillon Brooks broke the code.” Payton fractured his elbow and is set to miss three-to-five weeks. Brooks was subsequently suspended.
Now that the shoe is potentially on the other foot, Alex Kennedy of Basketball News wonders if the code was broken once again in Game 3, a 142-112 Warriors win. Warriors guard Jordan Poole grabbed Grizzlies All-Star point guard Ja Morant‘s right knee on a play, and Morant subsequently left the contest with an apparent injury. Morant initially tweeted a video of the Poole foul, while quoting Kerr’s “broke the code” comment. Morant has since wiped that post.
“I don’t have a take,” Kerr said of the interaction, per Mark Medina of NBA.com. “There’s nothing to comment on.”
There’s more out of the Southwest Division:
- Grizzlies center Steven Adams deserves to return to the Memphis starting lineup, opines Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Though the more athletic and switchable Xavier Tillman has supplanted Adams at center for the Grizzlies’ last six contests, Cole believes the rebounding of Adams will be key for Memphis against the smaller Warriors. The burly big man is also excellent at the kinds of little plays that may not show up in box scores, such as devastating screen-setting.
- The New Orleans Pelicans face a variety of intriguing roster-building decisions to make during their offseason. Will Guillory of The Athletic discusses a variety of issues for New Orleans this summer, including potential extensions for new additions CJ McCollum and Larry Nance Jr., the Pelicans’ future at point guard, the fate of Jaxson Hayes, and more. Part 1 of his series on the Pelicans’ offseason was linked here.
- Dallas Mavericks All-Star guard Luka Doncic has flexed plenty of playoff muscle this postseason, leading Dallas to its first second-round appearance in 11 years. Cydney Henderson of USA Today writes that Doncic proved his mettle in his winning both a EuroLeague title and EuroLeague MVP in 2018, prior to arriving stateside in the NBA draft. He has been training his whole life for this moment. Henderson notes that Doncic has been playing basketball since he was seven months old. His father Sasa Doncic was a pro in various European leagues. “I played basketball because (my dad) played basketball,” Doncic said. “I was always with him on the court. Always at the games just shooting basketballs.”
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