Dillon Brooks Says He's Better Than Draymond Green and Green's Comments 'a Low Blow'

The intense rivalry between the Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies added another chapter on Thursday night with Dillon Brooks and Draymond Green trading words through the media after the Grizzlies' 131-110 victory.

This particular situation started on Wednesday when Green said on his podcast the Grizzlies aren't a true championship contender yet because of "this idiot right here" in reference to Brooks (h/t Joey Linn of SI.com).

Brooks told reporters after Thursday's game Green's comments had no effect "because I know I'm a better player than him." The 27-year-old did take exception to what he felt was Green trying to pit his teammates against him.

"Just the fact that he was trying to pin my teammates against me, that was a low blow. So that's what type of player he is," Brooks explained. "These are my guys. We grew it all together. I ain't out there getting in physical altercations with my teammates. I sit there and talk to them, try to not break them down, but build them up."

There was one moment in the second quarter after Brooks stole an inbounds pass and drove past Green for a layup when the two men had a brief incident. Brooks got in Green's face to say some things before the officials stepped in to break it up.

Green accused Brooks of trying to bait him into getting a technical foul in that moment.

"I get technical fouls when I want to get technical fouls," the Warriors forward said after the game. "I don't get baited into technical fouls. So, I think that's probably the difference between me and him. If I do that to him, it'd be a double tech, because he'd respond. But it's not a double tech, because I didn't respond. One of us are baitable, one of us aren't."

In his immediate comments after the game to TNT's Jared Greenberg (starts at :40 mark), Brooks said he told Green after the brief scuffle in the second quarter to "keep doing his podcast, keep blogging. ... It's cute, it's fun."

Brooks stoked the flames of this rivalry with Green last week when he told ESPN's Tim Keown he doesn't like Draymond or the Warriors: "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."

Keown noted at that time Green's response, via a Warriors spokesperson, was to laugh and pass on the opportunity to make a comment. He gave his formal response on the podcast earlier this week.

Green still refuses to acknowledge the Grizzlies as a rival of the Warriors because "one team has to win, and then another team has to win," but "we've won four times, and I think their organization has zero championships, so I can't consider that a rivalry."

The Grizzlies do have the distinction of being the only Western Conference team to eliminate the Warriors from the playoffs or play-in tournament since Golden State's dynasty began during the 2014-15 season.

Memphis beat Golden State, 117-112, in the play-in tournament in May 2021 to earn the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference.

Thursday's win snapped the Grizzlies' three-game losing streak and dropped the reigning NBA champions to 7-26 on the road this season. These two teams play one more time in the regular season on March 18 at FedEx Forum.