On Thursday, a matchup between the Houston Rockets and the Chicago Bulls got heated as DeMar DeRozan and Dillon Brooks got into an altercation after DeRozan ran into Jalen Green, committing a hard foul, where he was frustrated from multiple plays before that.
Brooks took a stand for his teammate and confronted DeRozan on the court, leading to multiple technical fouls on both of them. The video of the scene went viral, and fans started to express their take on the issue.
NBA fans back Dillon Brooks in DeMar DeRozan altercation
In the third quarter, the Bulls were trailing by 9 points when DeRozan charged Green aggressively while defending and putting him on the ground. When Green was in pain due to the hard foul, Brooks took a stand for his teammate and confronted DeRozan, which further escalated, and several teammates and the team staff were needed to break them off.
Dillon Brooks needs to understand that DeMar Derozan is from Compton and he really about all that pic.twitter.com/lDkwRvACXD
— Bo Tilly 보석 🇰🇷✌🏽 (@BoTilly) March 22, 2024
Both of the players were ejected after that, as DeRozan got a flagrant two while Brooks got a technical foul. This scene got fans all fired up on social media, and they took Brooks’ side while giving their ‘mad respect’ and opinions about the issue.
I love Dillon Brooks having Jalen Green’s back there. DeMar took a cheap shot on Jalen and Dillon immediately went to check DeMar’s temperature.
— ᵂᴵᴸᴸ (@BiasedHouston) March 22, 2024
Shout-out to Dillon Brooks immediately getting into DeMar DeRozan's face after he laid out Jalen Green.
— Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) March 22, 2024
Dillon not about to let that stuff go.
That DeRozan bullshit was EXACTLY why Dillon Brooks was needed on this team. Just an absolute DAWG who will always go to war for his team
— depressed rockets fan (@drf_00) March 22, 2024
Absolutely insane the refs decided to eject Dillon Brooks from this game man.
— ᵂᴵᴸᴸ (@BiasedHouston) March 22, 2024
A tech was in order, but that was not ejection worthy. He was defending his teammate from a dirty play.
DeRozan needs to understand he’s playing in an NBA game and Brooks isn’t about letting him unnecessarily hip check and injure his teammate
— Willie Jenkins (@WillieJ3nkins) March 22, 2024
Dillion stood up for his player. That man from earth just like him.
— Darts (@Original_Heemie) March 22, 2024
Dillon Brooks gets shade from DeMar DeRozan
DeRozan spoke about the issue after the game, shading Brooks in the process by saying that the situation escalated because of how Brooks approached him and started getting into physical contact.
“Just walking up on me in any type of way. I don’t play the walking up on somebody when their back is turned. Nah, that’s just not a thing we do. I walked away from the situation after the foul. I just felt like it’s an issue walking up on any man from behind,” he said per BR.
DeRozan also mentions that he didn’t intend to foul Green, but he tripped while getting into position. He said, “I was surprised just from the simple fact that I was trying to hedge out and just be aggressive, obviously bumped him, but if you look at it, I kind of tripped into it. I’m not dumb. These days it’s just so hard to tell when you go back and look at a review. It wasn’t anything I was trying to do intentionally.”
DeRozan insisted that he felt bad that he couldn’t finish the game and be there for his teammates. He was the most clutch player in the squad, and without him, it was really difficult for the team to win the game.
