JUST WRONG

Memphis Grizzlies Dillon Brooks’ Foul on Gary Payton II ‘Broke the Code,’ Warriors Coach Steve Kerr Says

Dillon Brooks was ejected after he clubbed the Warriors player in a flagrant foul that sent him to a hospital with a fractured elbow.

Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr erupted at the Memphis Grizzlies after player Dillon Brooks’ “dirty” foul on Gary Payton II that landed Payton in a hospital with a fractured left elbow, saying Brooks “broke the code.” Brooks clubbed Payton across the head early in the playoff game as he tried to stop him when Payton leaped for the basket. Payton fell to the floor, grabbing his left arm and groaning in pain. After the game, Kerr said, “I don’t know if it was intentional but it was dirty. 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. There’s a code that players follow where you never put a guy’s season-slash-career in jeopardy by taking somebody out in mid-air and clubbing them across the head and ultimately fracturing Gary’s elbow. This is a guy who’s been toiling 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 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.”