ROCKETS DEFEAT BULLS
DeMar DeRozan, Dillon Brooks ejected from game after on-court scuffle in Houston
Mar 22, 2024, 9:39 am
ROCKETS DEFEAT BULLS
Chicago's DeMar DeRozan and Houston's Dillon Brooks were both ejected after being involved in an on-court scrum in Thursday night's game between the Bulls and the Rockets, which Houston won 127-117.
With 6:02 remaining in the third quarter and the Rockets leading 84-75, Jalen Green was bringing the ball up the court when DeRozan came off a screen and hip-checked him, which sent Green down to the court in pain.
“I think there was some contact on some drives, some fouls, previous calls that were not called,” Bulls interim coach Billy Donovan said. “Obviously, DeMar jumped off of that screen and fouled Green."
Brooks took exception and immediately approached DeRozan, who had his back turned to him. DeRozan turned and looked to have elbowed Brooks in the chin, which caused the two to lock arms. Teammates tried to break it up.
“I didn't love it being that he got elbowed,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said of Brooks' ejection. “He walked over and didn't say anything crazy. But they say the rules are the guy that kind of instigates it to get it to that step after DeRozan did what he did, he got suspended because of that.”
The scrum grew with team staff and security attempting to intervene. Torrey Craig got involved and he and Brooks fell to the ground after tripping over a security guard who had fallen.
After the scrum had been cleared the situation reviewed, the initial foul by DeRozan was ruled a flagrant foul 2 and he was ejected. Brooks was given a technical foul and ejected for his role.
“I don’t think DeMar’s intention was to get a flagrant 2, certainly it was fouling and of course flagrant 1 and they’re shooting a free throw,” Donovan said. "I don’t think that was ever his intention was to do that. I actually was a little surprised that it got elevated to a flagrant 2, personally.”
Udoka added about Brooks: “Had a great game, great impact, wish he didn’t get ejected but like I said I don’t mind him standing up for his guys."
Brooks left the game at the time with a team-leading 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting for Houston, while DeRozan exited with 16 points on just 4-of-15 shooting in 23 minutes.
Crew Chief Curtis Blair spoke to the pool reporter after the game.
“DeRozan was assessed a flagrant foul penalty 2 because the contact was excessive and unnecessary,” Blair said. “Because Brooks escalated the situation, therefore he was given a technical foul and ejected.”
Houston center fielder Jake Meyers was removed from Wednesday night’s game against Cleveland during pregame warmups because of right calf tightness.
Meyers, who had missed the last two games with a right calf injury, jogged onto the field before the game but soon summoned the training staff, who joined him on the field to tend to him. He remained on the field on one knee as manager Joe Espada joined the group. After a couple minutes, Meyers got up and was helped off the field and to the tunnel in right field by a trainer.
Mauricio Dubón moved from shortstop to center field and Zack Short entered the game to replace Dubón at shortstop.
Meyers is batting .308 with three homers and 21 RBIs this season.
After the game, Meyers met with the media and spoke about the injury. Meyers declined to answer when asked if the latest injury feels worse than the one he sustained Sunday. Wow, that is not a good sign.
Asked if this calf injury feels worse than the one he sustained on Sunday, Jake Meyers looked toward a team spokesman and asked "do I have to answer that?" He did not and then politely ended the interview.
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) July 10, 2025
Lack of imaging strikes again!
The Athletic's Chandler Rome reported on Thursday that the Astros didn't do any imaging on Meyers after the initial injury. You can't make this stuff up. This is exactly the kind of thing that has the Astros return-to-play policy under constant scrutiny.
The All-Star break is right around the corner, why take the risk in playing Meyers after missing just two games with calf discomfort? The guy literally fell to the ground running out to his position before the game started. The people that make these risk vs. reward assessments clearly are making some serious mistakes.
The question remains: will the Astros finally do something about it?