The first-round series between the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets has reached major levels of intensity as the scene shifts to San Francisco for Game 3. Ahead of another epic battle, Dillon Brooks made headlines in the media for his latest comments, which put the ‘dirty’ tag on Draymond Green.
“I think the dirty player is Draymond, giving him a little push,” said Brooks, via Chancellor Johnson. “That’s what regular basketball players do. Jimmy’s fighting there for a rebound, and stuff happens. It doesn’t have anything to do with being a dirty player, and we’re not worried about that. We hope Jimmy can get better.”
Between two teams with title ambitions, this series was set to be one of high intensity from the very beginning. Emotions reached a whole new level in Game 2, however, when Warriors star Jimmy Butler went down with an injury that could change the entire trajectory of the postseason.
During a play in the first quarter, Butler suffered a pelvis contusion after colliding with Rockets swingman, Amen Thompson. He returned to shoot free throws (making one of two attempts) before heading to the locker room. He has yet to take the court since.
The play in question was highly controversial at the time, and many suspected that Thompson was trying to deliberately hurt Butler by taking him out of the game. What the critics have conveniently left out is that Thompson was pushed from behind by Draymond Green, who flew at him mid-air after he came down with the rebound.
Jimmy Butler hit the ground hard after being undercut by Amen Thompson 😳 pic.twitter.com/Icd2wBF50U
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) April 24, 2025
From the looks of it, Draymond is the one who initiated the contact, and that wasn’t lost on Brooks, who was quick to defend his teammate from the critics. Green, like Brooks, has a long history of sketchy/questionable plays.
During the peak of his glory days with the Warriors, Draymond got suspended in the NBA Finals over his technical fouls, and he was routinely the source of criticism for cheap shots against guys like LeBron James and Steven Adams.
In this case, Draymond’s shenanigans worked against his team and may have potentially sidelined one of their own for a critical playoff game. Officially, Butler is listed as questionable for Game 3 after an MRI on Thursday confirmed the injury as a deep gluteal muscle contusion.
The good news is, the Warriors will be back on their home turf (the Chase Center) for the first time this postseason, and they can feed off the energy of the crowd to power them to victory. With the series tied at 1-1, both teams are fighting for momentum, and whoever gives in first may cost themselves the series.
With or without Butler, the Warriors will be fighting with everything they have in the next game (including some questionable plays), but they will need to be whole to get into the latter rounds of the Western bracket. As for Brooks and the Rockets, we already know what lengths they will go to achieve success, but it remains to be seen if they have the star power to edge out the competition.
