Dillon Brooks scored 25 points on 26 shots in this game. At one point he was 0-for-6 from the field, but did that stop him from chucking the ball until it was deflated and unsuitable for in-game use? NO! He chucked it twenty more times! And eventually he got to the point where a casual fan looking only at his point totals would think he had a good game!
Stathead informs me that there have been sixteen other instances this season of a player scoring 25 or fewer points while attempting 26 or more shots. So, in terms of pure, soulless, ill-advised, high-volume chuckage, there have been players who did it more egregiously. Russell Westbrook is on that list a few times. So is Andrew Wiggins. And Giannis (sob). Brooks himself even did this once before, back in late February: he shot 26 shots and only scored 22 points.
I’m fine if a superstar takes a lot of shots and has an off night. It happens even to the best players in the NBA. But for a player like Brooks to do it? That doesn’t make sense. His teammates aren’t total garbage; in fact, many of them are better players than he is. They should be getting some of these shots.
If the Grizzlies end up missing the playoffs (not sure what the probabilities look like at this point), I think the blame can be placed squarely on Dillon Brooks and his utter inability to have any kind of shot-taking filter at all. Memphis fans have gotta be annoyed with this dude right now. I’m feeling second-hand annoyance and I’m not even that heavily invested in the fortunes of the ‘Zlies.