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The Houston Rockets kept their season alive on Wednesday night with a 131-116 victory over the Golden State Warriors and polarizing forward Dillon Brooks was a big reason why. Brooks scored 24 points in the win and helped hold Steph Curry to just 13 points on 4-of-12 shooting. It was after the game, however, when Brooks made headlines by suggesting that he was hoping to intentionally re-injure Curry.
Curry has dealt with a right thumb injury for the better part of the last few months. After each game, he’ll ice the thumb and then wrap it. Now it appears that the Rockets, and Brooks specifically, are hoping to make the injury worse for the Warriors superstar.
“I’ve been playing the game… If I had an injured ankle, I would attack that ankle every single time. So, whatever they’re saying on the broadcast, they can keep saying it.”
Dillon Brooks, when asked if he is intentionally targeting Steph Currys’ thumb👀
pic.twitter.com/Md8NVsZ02i— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 1, 2025
“I’ve been playing the game,” Brooks said when asked if he was attempting to hit Curry’s thumb. “If [someone] had an injured ankle, I would attack that ankle every single time. So, whatever they’re saying on the broadcast, they can keep saying it.”
Look, if the refs don’t call it then it’s not a foul. But that’s a pretty ugly look for Brooks, and Golden State has clearly taken note of the situation.
“So the rule is once the shot has been released, you’re allowed to hit a guy’s arm,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the game. “And so what’s happened in the league this year is, players always are, they’re going to outsmart the rules. They know what they’re doing.
“So players all over the league are just taking shots at guys’ shooting hands after the release because they know it’s not going to be a foul. And I’m very confident that next year the league will fix it because it’s only a matter of time before somebody breaks a thumb or breaks a hand or whatever. But these are the rules.”
Curry and Golden State still have a 3-2 lead in the series. They’ll try to send Brooks and the Rockets packing in Game 6 at Oracle Arena on Friday. But until they do, Brooks and co. are going to take every opportunity possible to get Curry out of the game.