Warriors coach Steve Kerr on Gary Payton II injury: ‘Dillon Brooks broke
the code’
Gary Payton II suffered a fracture to his left elbow and is scheduled to
undergo an MRI Thursday to determine the severity of the injury, the
Warriors said.
>MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE – MAY 3: Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green (23)
checks on Golden State Warriors’ Gary Payton II (0) as he was taking
free-throws after being fouled against the Memphis Grizzlies in the
first quarter of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round Western
Conference playoff series at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn., on
Tuesday, May 3, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
>MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE – MAY 3: Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green (23)
checks on Golden State Warriors’ Gary Payton II (0) as he was taking
free-throws after being fouled against the Memphis Grizzlies in the
first quarter of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round Western
Conference playoff series at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn., on
Tuesday, May 3, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
By MADELINE KENNEY | mkenney@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: May 3, 2022 at 11:04 p.m. | UPDATED: May 4, 2022 at 8:12 a.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/05/03/warriors-coach-steve-kerr-on-gary-payton-ii-injury-dillon-brooks-broke-the-code/

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Coach Steve Kerr accused Grizzlies forward Dillon
Brooks of breaking “the code” after he injured Gary Payton II by
attacking him from behind as the Warriors guard attempted a layup
Tuesday night during Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals.

Payton suffered a fracture to his left elbow and is scheduled to undergo
an MRI Wednesday to determine the severity of the injury, the Warriors
said after the Grizzlies beat them 106-101 in what was Golden State’s
most intense and physical battle of the postseason so far.

Early into the first quarter, Brooks wound up and hit Payton in the head
as the guard soared through the air. The contact caused Payton to crash
onto his left (shooting) arm.

As Payton laid on the court in severe pain, the Warriors were fuming and
demanded the officials take another look at the play.

“GP’s tough so when you see him in pain like that, you know that it’s
not something light,” Stephen Curry said after the game. “So it’s a
tough situation.”

Brooks ultimately was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected. Payton
split a pair of free throws before exiting the game with 9:08 left in
the opening quarter and heading to the locker room. He underwent an
X-ray and never returned.

Draymond Green, who received a Flagrant 2 foul in Game 1 on Sunday, said
the play was a “bulls— foul.”

Kerr wasn’t sure if it was intentional, but said he thought it was a
dirty play.

“Playoff basketball is supposed to be physical. Everybody’s going to
compete, everybody’s going to fight for everything. But there’s a code
in this league, code that players follow where you never put a guy’s
season/career in jeopardy, like taking somebody out in mid-air and
clubbing them across the head and ultimately fracturing Gary’s elbow,”
Kerr said.

Curry called Brooks’ foul “out of line,” noting that Payton was
“defenseless” as he went up for a layup.

“Everything bad that could’ve happened in that situation did,” Curry
said. It “knocked him out for the game. We’ll see what happens with his
injury. Obviously, tough way to start the game.

“Talk about Flagrant 2s, it was definitely one of those, so [the
referees] made the right call there. But I feel bad for GP — like, this
is his time to shine in a series like this and a play like that knocks
him out, it’s tough.”

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Kerr also expressed sympathy for Payton, who has been clawing for an
opportunity to play basketball his entire adult life.

The 29-year-old guard played at a community college before getting a
shot at Oregon State. Then, he went undrafted and bounced around the NBA
and the G League for the last five years mostly as a fringe player,
signing 10-day and two-way contracts. Before this season, he never
played 30 NBA games in a season.

Payton had gone from being the last man on the Warriors’ roster at the
beginning of the season to being a starter in the postseason. But most
of Game 2 and perhaps the rest of the postseason was robbed from Payton
after Brooks attacked him from behind as he went up for a layup.

“This is a guy who’s been toiling for the last six years, trying to make
it in this league, finally found a home, just playing his butt off this
year. In the playoffs, this should be the time of his life,” Kerr said.
“And a guy comes in, whacks him across the head in mid-air. He broke the
code, Dillon Brooks broke the code. That’s how I see it.”

--
Madeline Kenney | Warriors reporter