“Today we win, and I’ll drive you crazy”- Corriere.it

According to one of the urban legends circulating at the time in the NBA the age of LeBron James it would not be the one that derives from the official date of birth (December 30, 1984).

In short, the Chosen One would have more springs and this seemed to stand out more in his college days and at the dawn of the NBA, when LBJ seemed less young than indicated by his identity card. Whether this story is true or not – in our opinion, honestly, it’s a solemn bullshit – now we know that it’s still better not to call King James an “old man”.

Anyone who does so risks ending badly, as Dillon Brooks of the Memphis Grizzlies, opponents of James’ Los Angeles Lakers in the quarterfinals of the Western Conference playoffs, experienced.

Let’s rewind the tape.

The Lakers cleared Memphis in game 1, theoretically anesthetizing the rivals’ advantage of playing at home in game 7. But in the second match, the Grizzlies made up for it and evened the score. Thus, interviewed by journalists, Brooks let himself go: «LeBron is just an old man. I have no respect for him.” It was the corollary of an attitude made up of continuous provocations, the ones with which she peppered every moment of the matches (even situations off the field, such as meetings with the press): the 27-year-old Canadian winger, under Memphis since 2017, everything has been invented to annoy the Los Angeles champion, who recently became the points record in the history of the professional league.

LeBron, on the other hand, let it go. He never reacted, not even in the face of specific questions from reporters. «Matches are always decided on the pitch, never off it», is the only sentence he allowed himself. He evidently didn’t want to waste even half of his energy fueling a debate that would certainly have stressed him out. But this doesn’t mean that he wasn’t enraged and that he didn’t intend to make his arrogant and disrespectful opponent pay. Thus, shortly before race 3, the first of two consecutive races at «Crypto.com» in Los Angeles, held at dawn in Italy on Sunday 23 April, he went to him and stood in front of him with the look of when he’s grim and pissed off. But he didn’t insult him, on the contrary he was calm. Those close to the couple have blurted out that the phrase that accompanied the “duel” was: “Today we win and I will drive you crazy.”

Said and done. The Lakers attacked the game with last-ditch ferocity: 35-9 in the first quarter, a game already packed after 12 minutes which also sanctioned, for Memphis, a historic new negative league record relating to the fraction. The Grizzlies tried to get back on track, improving their catastrophic shooting averages, but the omelette was now done and Los Angeles only had to manage the situation to win 111-101 and take the lead in the series (2-1). Dillon Brooks then came to a bad end. Clearly at the height of frustration, early in the third quarter he punched LBJ in the private parts and was ejected (his foul has been cataloged «flagrant 2», violent and unnecessary). In short, he recalled the naughty and always punished Maria Rosa of the clip of one of the best-known commercials of the times of Carosello.

The pain from the blow was relieved – it passed quickly anyway – James completed the revenge by posting 25 points on 50% shooting, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Old? Not exactly. Dillon Brooks? Whoeeee? In addition to the embarrassment of the forbidden shot, the Canadian stood out for a bad 3 out of 13 shooting. The Chosen One, faithful to his line, has decided not to comment this time either, while the indefensible opponent – on his third expulsion of the season, after having also collected 18 technical fouls – has found a kind of advocate in teammate Ja Morant, the Grizzlies star who had missed game 2 due to injury and who returned in the third game scoring 45 useless points: «My feeling is that Dillon was sent off more for what happened in the previous matches than for this act: if we look closely at the images , he is looking for the ball». But he took… the lower parts and this is not good.

Brooks is now on the offender list, like Golden State’s Draymond Green who in the last part of a more than turbulent career got himself disqualified for one match for having “walked” on the chest of Domantas Sabonis of the Sacramento Kings. Joe Dumars, one of Detroit’s former Bad Boys who is now, paradoxically, the judge who has to issue sanctions, will most likely send the Canadian to the pits for race 4. It really seems like the least to do.