MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Coach Steve Kerr accused Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks of breaking “the code” after he injured Gary Payton II by attacking him from behind as the Warriors guard attempted a layup Wednesday night during Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals.
Payton suffered a fracture to his left elbow and is scheduled to undergo an MRI Thursday to determine the severity of the injury, the Warriors said after the Grizzlies beat them, 106-101, in what was the most intense and physical battles of the postseason so far.
Early into the first quarter, Brooks wound up and hit Payton in the head as the guard soared through the air. The contact caused Payton to crash onto his left (shooting) arm.
As Payton laid on the court in severe pain, the Warriors were fuming and demanded the officials take another look at the play. Stephen Curry went over to check on Payton.
“GP’s tough so when you see him in pain like that, you know that it’s not something light,” Curry said after the game. “So it’s a tough situation.”
Brooks ultimately was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected. Payton split a pair of free throws before exiting the game with 9:08 left in the opening quarter and heading to the locker room. He underwent an X-ray, which confirmed the fracture, and never returned.
Draymond Green, who received a Flagrant 2 foul in Game 1 on Sunday, said the play was a “bulls--- foul.”
Kerr wasn’t sure if it was intentional, but said he thought it was a dirty play.
“Playoff basketball is supposed to be physical. Everybody’s going to compete, everybody’s going to fight for everything. But there’s a code in this league, code that players follow where you never put a guy’s season/career in jeopardy, like taking somebody out in mid-air and clubbing them across the head and ultimately fracturing Gary’s elbow,” Kerr said.
Curry called Brooks’ foul “out of line,” noting that Payton was “defenseless” as he went up for a layup.
“Everything bad that could’ve happened in that situation did,” Curry said. It “knocked him out for the game. We’ll see what happens with his injury. Obviously, tough way to start the game.
“Talk about Flagrant 2s, it was definitely one of those, so [the referees] made the right call there. But I feel bad for GP — like, this is his time to shine in a series like this and a play like that knocks him out, it’s tough.”
Kerr also expressed sympathy for Payton, who has been clawing for an opportunity to play basketball his entire adult life.
The 29-year-old guard played at a community college before getting a shot at Oregon State. Then, he went undrafted and bounced around the NBA and the G League for the last five years mostly as a fringe player, signing 10-day and two-way contracts. Before this season, he never played 30 NBA games in a season.
Payton had gone from being the last man on the Warriors’ roster at the beginning of the season to being a starter in the postseason. But most of Game 2 and perhaps the rest of the postseason was robbed from Payton after Brooks attacked him from behind as he went up for a layup.
“This is a guy who’s been toiling for the last six years, trying to make it in this league, finally found a home, just playing his butt off this year. In the playoffs, this should be the time of his life,” Kerr said. “And a guy comes in, whacks him across the head in mid-air. He broke the code, Dillon Brooks broke the code. That’s how I see it.”
