The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night in a game that featured a third-quarter fight between Memphis’ Dillon Brooks and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell, which resulted in both players getting ejected. Mitchell shared his feelings about Brooks after the game. Unsurprisingly, they were not positive.
Brooks has spent his entire career with the Grizzlies while Mitchell, before getting traded to the Cavaliers before this season, had also spent his entire career in the Western Conference, with the Utah Jazz. So, the two had played against each other a lot before Thursday’s fight. The fight began when Brooks hit Mitchell in the groin, prompting Mitchell to throw the ball at Brooks on his way down. The two then got up and began shoving each other before both teams arrived.
Following Thursday’s game, while Mitchell remained calm, he made it known that what Brooks did is what Mitchell has come to expect.
“That’s just who he is — we’ve seen it a bunch in this league with him,” Mitchell said, H/T Chris Manning of Fear the Sword. “Him and I have had our personal battles for years. Quite frankly, I’ve been busting his a** for years. Playoffs, regular season. The one game he does an alright job on me, today, he decided to do something like that.
“There’s no place for that in the game and you’ve got to protect yourself at the end of the day. This has been brewing for years. With me, with other guys in the league. You all see it. This isn’t new. Tonight was just the end of it. It’s tough. When you can’t guard somebody and can’t do something with sombody and you’ve got to resort to that. And that’s what he’s done to a lot of players,” Mitchell said, specifically naming Damian Lillard and Steph Curry.
Donovan Mitchell on Dillon Brooks: pic.twitter.com/AhoWcMhtJx
— Chris Manning (@cwmwrites) February 3, 2023
Mitchell got a lot of support from NBA Twitter in the immediate aftermath of the fight. That support continued after his postgame press conference.
👀 sports > reality tv https://t.co/gpZrYeW9yj
— Renee Montgomery (@ReneeMontgomery) February 3, 2023
Y’all PLEASE watch this 😂😂😂😂😂😂 https://t.co/ckQE15aZUD
— Odjo Cinco (@kid_odjo) February 3, 2023
Brooks real quiet now https://t.co/u3GtmG1RPv
— Big Merk (@merkcitygod) February 3, 2023
Donovan's the new MVP frontrunner for this https://t.co/30gQ9UD5FG
— Div B (@statcenter) February 3, 2023
Unless they meet in the NBA Finals, the Cavaliers and Grizzlies are done playing this season. But next season, the matchups between Mitchell and Brooks will have some added spice to them for sure.
[Chris Manning on Twitter]
