Constantly critiqued guard fined heavily for cheap shot on Pacers big man

The preseason is fully underway for the Indiana Pacers, and they have gone 0-2 thus far. And in place of a win, one of the highlights involved the Houston Rockets, Daniel Theis, and Dillon Brooks.

In their second game of the preseason, the Pacers took on the new-look Rockets, who were playing their first preseason game. Houston signed Brooks to a massive contract over the summer.

Within the first five minutes of the game, Brooks had already made his presence known. He was going around a screen set by Theis and, on the way by, punched the Pacers big man below the belt.

Houston Rockets guard Dillon Brooks gets fined $25,000 for cheap shot hit on Indiana Pacers big man Daniel Theis

The play was reviewed, and Brooks was handed a Flagrant 2 foul, which got him ejected from the contest. Since the incident, the NBA announced that they would be fining Brooks for the hit, revealing that it would cost Brooks $25,000.

Brooks has a history of nonsense. Most notably, he spent the postseason last year trash-talking Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James just to get bounced in the first round.

Throughout his time with the Memphis Grizzlies, with whom Brooks spent the first six years of his NBA career, Brooks was ejected six times, including twice in the playoffs.

In fact, Brooks ran into a similar problem in the playoffs last year against the Lakers and James. He was trying to get around James on the defensive end and hit him below the belt, getting him booted from the game.

He was an All-Defensive player last year, but he’s developed a reputation as a dirty player and as a guy who runs his mouth off the court and on it, which can lead to some problems.

On the one hand, this could give the Rockets a nice spark on the defensive end, as well as an enforcer, but it could also lead to some problems if Brooks acts out too often.

This time around, the Pacers were on the receiving end of Brooks’ antics, and unfortunately for Theis, he took the brunt of the abuse, as he was certainly feeling that hit for a while after it occurred.