LeBron James kept it real about the latest chapter of his on-court rivalry with Dillon Brooks on the chaotic Lakers-Suns Sunday matchup.
Sunday night served as the latest chapter in the long-standing and well-documented rivalry of LeBron James and Dillon Brooks.
Los Angeles Lakers / Schedule
And amid the hype and thrill of many regarding this, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar kept it simple: both of them are just intense competitors.
“He's going to compete. I'm going to compete. We're going to get up in each other's face," James said. "Tried not to go borderline with it. I don't really take it there.
"But we just competed. And did that almost all the way to the end of the game.”
Tensions have flared as early as the first frame, when both James and Brooks bumped into each other multiple times, which triggered an early technical foul against the Suns forward.
The drama continued in the third period. After Brooks was fouled by Luka Doncic while driving to the basket, he swatted the loose ball in the direction of James, which appeared to hit the Lakers star. Enraged, James protested and had to be restrained by officials and teammates as he eventually drew a technical call of his own.
And in the chaotic endgame, Brooks hit a go-ahead three-pointer over James to give the Suns a 114-113 lead. As he felt he was fouled and got hit in his shooting motion, Brooks immediately chest bumped the 40-year-old, which ultimately cost the momentum for the Suns to complete their dramatic comeback rally in the final quarter.
Brooks earned a second technical foul from his actions and was tossed out of the game, as the Lakers wrapped it up with a 116-114 win.
“I mean, s—, he brought his antics and tonight it cost him [and the Suns]," Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt said about Brooks. "So, yeah, that’s all I can say."
James finished with 26 points and four assists to lead the Lakers back to the win column, while Brooks poured 18 markers on the Suns' losing effort.
Both the Lakers and the Suns will still meet three times in this regular season, and we can only expect more heated events to follow between James and Brooks.
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