Tag: Grizzlies

Dillon Brooks asked for LeBron James in the first round of the playoffs, but he should be careful what he wishes for

Dillon Brooks needs to be more careful about what he wishes for

It’s very rare that you’ll see somebody actually request to play one of the greatest postseason performers to ever touch an NBA floor.

But Dillon Brooks ain’t just everybody. He’s Dillon Brooks. Is that a bad thing? Is it a good thing? We’ll have to find out.

History has shown us, though, it’s rarely turned out well when someone has called out LeBron James. Remember Joakim Noah? Or how about Lance Stephenson? There’s also my personal favorite, DeShawn Stevenson.

None of that worked out. But Brooks didn’t care at all. He did it anyway.

“I wouldn’t mind playing LeBron in a 7-game series. The legacy is there. First time back in the playoffs, knock him out right away. It’ll test us good. They got good pieces, good players. That’ll be a good 1st-round matchup for us.” 

Why — in the year of 2023 — are we still giving LeBron James bulletin board material? I just do not understand this, for the life of me.

Brooks’ teammates have to be giving him the stink face right now for this. That’s just not something you should probably be offering up publicly for everyone to see and hear.

But, also, it’s the Grizzlies. This isn’t shocking. This is actually just what they do. Ja Morant did tell us the Grizzlies were “fine” in the West.

LeBron James has other plans, though. Clearly.

Dillon Brooks took another hilarious shot at Draymond Green after the Grizzlies totally crushed the Warriors

Long live the Draymond Green-Dillon Brooks beef

The Warriors vs. the Grizzlies has easily become the NBA’s greatest rivalry — no matter how much either side tries to deny it — and at the center of it all is Draymond Green vs. Dillon Brooks.

Those two dudes clearly don’t like each other. They’ve both told us as much without mincing words at all. Green even called Brooks a whole bunch of names.

The petty beef continued on Thursday night after the Grizzlies beat the Warriors in the most convincing fashion. In the postgame interview, Brooks insisted that the TNT crew give a mic to Draymond so he can keep playing well.

“You should give the mic to Draymond. Make him keep talking about me…Make him keep talking about me so I can play better.” 

That’s hilarious. Obviously, Green told us before the game how much of a “clown” he thought Brooks was via his podcast. Clearly, Brooks heard that. And it motivated him.

It was clear from the beginning, too. The two even got into it during the game. The subject? Green’s podcast, obviously.

“That’s what I do. I talk. I told him to keep that mic thing…Keep doing his podcast. Keep blogging. Keep doing his thing off the court. You know, it’s cute. It’s fun for him.” 

Y’all. This is the absolute best. The funny part is you absolutely know Draymond is going to go podcast about this. He’s probably got something cooking up as we speak.

I will never get tired of this and I’m sure the rest of the league won’t, either.

Draymond Green savagely ripped Dillon Brooks in a long-awaited response to his comments

Draymond Green clearly doesn’t like Dillon Brooks, either

As soon as quotes from Dillon Brooks about not liking Draymond Green hit the internet, we all knew there’d eventually be a response from the Warriors forward.

And we also knew that he’d save it for his podcast. Because, well, let’s face it, folks. This is grade-A content. Can’t quite say I blame Green here. Got to get those downloads in, right?

Obviously, there’s a longstanding beef between the Warriors and the Grizzlies with these two sitting at the center of it. And that’s fine.

But, uh, man. Green didn’t pull any punches when it came to his response to Brooks. He broke down what Brooks said — sentence by sentence — and called him all sorts of names along the way. Idiot. Clown.  The whole list.

Here’s the part where Green just starts going in.

“I’m trying to figure out why they like you in Memphis. Or do they like you in Memphis? That’s a better question. I’m not sure your teammates like you. I can tell you why they like me over there. When you contribute the way that I have contributed to four championships, they tend to like you.”

And he finished it off with this.

“Next time you speak up on me, I hope you in a better situation than you in now. Where the guys you play with, actually enjoy playing with you because they actually think you’re contirbuting to winning. Cause it ain’t happening right now champ — Ah, you’re not a champ. You’re a clown. It ain’t happening for you.” 

My goodness, man. Draymond didn’t hold back on Brooks at all. The man just let it all out.

To be fair to him, Brooks started it, I guess? But, man. These are some harsh words. I’m sure Brooks didn’t expect anything less from the guy he says he doesn’t like, though.

Maybe one day these two will hash things out. On the other hand, after words like these? Probably not.

Ah well. At least we’ll get good basketball out of it.

Yellowstone National Park logs first grizzly bear sighting of 2023

A Yellowstone National Park biologist spotted a grizzly bear Tuesday while on a research flight, providing a stark reminder that spring is close at hand.

A Yellowstone National Park biologist spotted a grizzly bear Tuesday while on a research flight, providing a stark reminder that spring is just around the corner.

To be sure, despite frigid temperatures and an abundance of snow, this should not come as a surprise.

Tuesday’s sighting marked the third time in four years that the park’s first known grizzly bear sighting occurred March 7.  (In 2021, the first sighting was on March 13.)

The sighting, of an adult bear weighing 300 to 350 pounds, occurred near bison remains in the central-eastern portion of the park.

ALSO: Lifeguard has pointed response to girl harassing sea lion; video

The park explained in a news release that male grizzly bears typically emerge from hibernation in March. Female grizzlies with cubs usually wait until April or early May.

With the spring tourism season about to begin, bear management biologist Kerry Gunther issued this important advice:

“Spring visitors skiing, snowshoeing, or hiking in Yellowstone National Park are reminded to carry bear spray and be especially alert for bears near carcasses and areas with early spring green-up.

“These are the first foods sought out by grizzlies after emerging from hibernations.”

Park visitors are cautioned to maintain a distance of at least 100 yards from bears they spot in the Yellowstone wilderness.

–Generic grizzly bear image courtesy of Yellowstone National Park

Steven Adams reportedly called Ja Morant out in a team meeting before he posted his gun video

Steven Adams tried to help Ja Morant

It’s been a pretty rough week for Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies.

Last week started with reports about different bouts of aggression that, ultimately, led to police investigations on Morant. The Grizzlies All-Star wasn’t charged, but that’s still not a good look.

To follow that up, though, he also brought an apparent gun to a nightclub in Denver on Saturday after the Grizzlies’ matchup against the Nuggets. This has turned into a huge deal. Morant has been suspended by the team and there’s no timetable for his return. Morant is also reportedly being investigated by the Colorado police department for the gun he was carrying while on the road in Denver.

What makes that even worse, though, is that this could’ve all been avoided if Morant had just listened to his teammates. Steven Adams, in particular.

He didn’t call Morant out by name, according to a report from The Athletic’s Shams Charania, but Adams did talk about discipline and staying “away from going out” on the road in a team meeting. And that was before his IG Live video at the Denver nightclub.

“I’m told there was a playeres only meeting recently where Steven Adams, there veteran center, he spoke out about how the team needs to show better discipline on the road…And I’m told, those in the room, when Steven Adams spoke out, they knew exactly who he was directing this to. It was no one other than Ja Morant. And, so, clearly, Ja Morant still went out in the early hours of Saturday. That video was posted with a gun, and there’s questions.” 

Morant is one of the NBA’s brightest young stars. You absolutely hate to see things like this happening to him.

But this is a situation he put himself in. And it’ll be on Morant to pull himself out of it. Obviously, there are folks who are trying to help him along the way and that’s a great thing. Let’s hope Morant opens himself up to that a bit more next time.

Dillon Brooks finally admitted he doesn’t like Draymond Green, which we all already knew

Dillon Brooks just finally told us what everyone already knew

There’s absolutely no love lost between the Grizzlies and the Warriors. These two teams have developed a legitimate rivalry over the last couple of seasons and it’s been fantastic.

We’ve got some pretty great moments out of it like Klay Thompson taunting the Grizzlies and Draymond Green dancing to ‘Whoop That Trick’ without care despite being blown out by Memphis.

We’ve also seen some pretty bad moments, too, like when Gary Payton II got injured during last year’s Western Conference semifinals and we had the whole “crossed the line” talk for the next month. That was unbearable.

Add all this together and you get two teams who very clearly don’t like each other all that much. Dillon Brooks took things a step further in an interview he did with ESPN’s Tim Keown.

Not only does he not like the Warriors, but he specifically doesn’t like Draymond Green.

Keown actually compared Brooks to Green because of their similar defensive tenacity and their similar dispositions that got them to where they are currently. Brooks scoffed at the mere thought of being compared to Green — who is almost certainly a future Hall of Famer! — in any way. It was hilarious.

He went in on Draymond. He gave him a compliment toward the end, sure, but he absolutely led with hate.

“I don’t like Draymond at all,” he says. “I just don’t like Golden State. I don’t like anything to do with them. Draymond talks a lot. Gets away with a lot, too. His game is cool — with Golden State — but if you put him anywhere else, you’re not going to know who Draymond is. He plays with heart, plays hard, knows the ins and outs of their defense. I guess that’s why they like him over there.”

Green’s response, according to Keown, was just to laugh, which is also just as incredible as this quote.

Of course, Brooks doesn’t like Draymond. Remember when he trolled him with the whole “4 rings” thing? (He later denied this because of course he did).

Green spent the entire Christmas Day game against the Grizzlies trolling Brooks. It’s no surprise Dillon doesn’t like him — he absolutely should not.

This is the sort of energy we need more of in rivalries across the league. It’s fantastic entertainment.

The 8 NBA title contenders you should be watching through the final stretch of the season

These are the true NBA title contenders you need to worry about

Well, folks. We’re finally here. It’s the final countdown. The NBA has hit the last stretch of games before it’s playoff time.

The doldrums on the way to the All-Star break are gone. No more talking about how to fix the game — all that is done.  This is when teams begin to ramp up. They start to experiment with some of their best lineups that they’ve pocketed all season long and really start to shape their individual identities for the playoffs.

But everyone in the league isn’t a contender, though. Most teams don’t actually have a shot at winning a title this season. Only a handful can actually claim to be in that conversation.

By my estimation, there are 8 of them. Let’s dive into all of them and talk about what we should be watching for as the season winds down.

Donovan Mitchell had an honest explanation for Dillon Brooks’ low blow: ‘I’ve been busting his [expletive] for years’

Well, now this all makes perfect sense

The Memphis Grizzlies, man. Drama is just following them all over the place so far this season. Well, to be honest, it’s following Dillon Brooks, in particular.

First, it was the near dust-up with Shannon Sharpe a few weeks ago. They got into a spat that felt like it could’ve spilled onto the court at any minute, which was pretty ridiculous.

Now, Brooks is in the middle of a beef with Donovan Mitchell. Mitchell has good reason to be mad, too — it was Brooks that started things this time.

He delivered a punch to Mitchell’s groin during the Grizzlies’ matchup with the Cavs. It was completely out of nowhere and for no reason. Brooks should almost certainly be suspended for this.

So why’d he do it? We don’t have a concrete answer, really. Donovan Mitchell had a pretty good one himself, though.

“Him and I have had our personal battles for years. Quite frankly, I’ve been busting his ass for years…The one game he does an alright job on me, he decides to do something like that. There’s no place for that in the game. You’ve got to protect yourself at the end of the day.”

WHEW that is spicy. “Quite frankly?” Nah, man. Mitchell didn’t hold anything back there. As the Grizzlies say, he wanted all the smoke.

Fans absolutely loved this.

The Memphis Grizzlies, LeBron James and the rest of the basketball world react to the killing of Tyre Nichols

Enough is enough.

Protests and demonstrations have emerged across the country after the city of Memphis released body camera footage of five police officers severely beating 29-year-old Tyre Nichols, who died three days later.

More than 20 minutes passed before Nichols started receiving medical treatment after officers beat him and left him on the pavement, according to the Associated Press.

The officers, who were charged with second-degree murder on Thursday, have been relieved of duty. But that won’t bring Nichols back to life. Nor does it take away the sting of knowing that yet another unarmed Black man doing no one any harm has lost his life as a result of police brutality.

We’re still here as a society. This is the same pain everyone felt after police officers killed George Floyd in Minnesota. And when police officers in Louisville killed Breonna Taylor. And when Trayvon Martin was killed in Florida — and that happened more than a decade ago. It’s the same pain over and over again.

Tyre Nichols’ life mattered, as USA TODAY’s Mike Freeman writes. Nichols was a father. He was a son. He was a skateboarder. He was a regular person like the rest of us. He didn’t deserve this.

Everyone has had enough. The NBA world tried its best to put a voice to that.

Everything we know so far about Shannon Sharpe’s beef with the entire Memphis Grizzlies team

Yes, that Shannon Sharpe. And those Grizzlies. This is all so wild

No, you did not read that headline incorrectly. Shannon Sharpe got into it at the Lakers game with the entire Memphis Grizzlies team and Ja Morant’s dad.

It all started with a spat between the Undisputed co-host and Dillon Brooks. Sharpe told Brooks he couldn’t guard LeBron James in a much less kind way. Brooks responded. Sharpe responded back and then things just unraveled from there.

What follows is everything we know so far about the incident. In the time since LeBron James has reacted, Dillion Brooks has also reacted and Sharpe peaced things up with Ja Morant’s dad.

This is just…a lot. So let’s dive in.