The Golden State Warriors announced that defensive ace Gary Payton II suffered a fractured left elbow during Tuesday night’s Game 2 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. Payton went up for a layup during the first quarter and got clotheslined by Grizzlies wing Dillon Brooks, who was assessed a flagrant 2 foul and ejected.
The foul — along with a few other moments during the opening 12 minutes of the game — drew the ire of Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who accused Memphis of playing dirty during his interview with TNT in between the first and second quarters. And after the game, Kerr ripped Brooks for breaking a code among players.
Steve Kerr calls Dillon Brooks’ Flagrant 2 foul on GP2 “dirty.”
“He broke the code” pic.twitter.com/KNI4GNPpsS
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) May 4, 2022
“I don’t know if it was intentional, but it was dirty,” Kerr said. “Playoff basketball, it’s supposed to be physical, everybody’s gonna compete, everybody’s gonna 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/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 playing his butt off this year,” Kerr continued. “In the playoffs, this should be the time of his life, and a guy comes in and whacks him across the head in mid-air. He broke the code, Dillon Brooks broke the code. That’s how I see it.”
There is no word on whether or not Brooks will be assessed any further penalty for the foul.