NBA fans are convinced Dillon Brooks was trying to injure Stephen Curry in Game 3

This Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors first-round series is getting chippy and some would even say a little dirty. Fans are calling out Rockets forward Dillon Brooks for a play in Game 3, where he seems to take a swipe at Stephen Curry’s injured thumb after he took a jump shot.

Brooks can be seen taking an extra swipe (maybe two) after Curry’s follow-through on his three-point attempt early in the fourth quarter. This series has quickly become personal and it doesn’t help that Brooks has a history dating back a few years now with Golden State from his time in Memphis.

Fans took to social media with reactions to the play:

"Damn I didn't even catch that. Bizarre reach seconds after he already shot it," one user said.

"Yeah, it’s blatantly obvious in the replay. Hard to catch in real time, which is wild and explains why it’s actually super tough to be a reasonably accurate ref without replays. "

"Really hope the NBA looks into this series after this game. As sick as I am of Curry, the last thing I wanna see is him get injured by the dirty plays that’s barely disguised as 'physicality'."

Did Dillon Brooke try to injure Warriors star Steph Curry?

In ’21, Brooks and the young Grizzlies eliminated the veteran Warriors from the play-in tournament in what was considered an upset at the time. One year later in the playoffs, these teams met in the second round and this time it was Curry and the Warriors coming out on top in six games en route to winning an NBA championship.

Fast forward a few years and here we are with the Rockets and Warriors again, who have their own playoff history. Entering this postseason Curry was undefeated in playoff series against Houston, having won all four matchups. Of course, those were completely different Rockets rosters, but it’s all the same for fans.  

So, going back to the play with Brooks and Curry, it’s easy to see how easily one can be read into this action. No one other than Brooks knows his true intent on this exchange, however, looking at the evidence we’re presented, you can’t rule out that there was a little extra going on here by the defender.

With Golden State up 2-1, all eyes will be on Brooks in Game 4, given the evidence against him from Game 3. Then there’s the Draymond Green factor, who isn’t above taking things too far himself. Green got into a verbal sparring session with Rockets guard Jalen Green at the end of Game 3 as the teams were leaving the court. This is one of those series everyone would love to see go seven games.