The Stephen Curry-Dillon Brooks individual matchup has made for fascinating viewing across the course of the first-round series between the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets.
Brooks and the Rockets took Game 5 win a dominant victory at home Wednesday, but now Curry and the Warriors will have the opportunity to close out the series at Chase Center on Friday night.
Dillon Brooks is deliberately targeting Stephen Curry's injured thumb
Brooks has gained a significant reputation for his antics around the league over recent years, with Warrior fans becoming awake to some of his questionable tactics throughout the first few games of this series.
Most notably, many on social media have been quick to point out Brooks' attempts to swipe down on Curry's injured thumb after a shot-attempt. The 2x MVP re-aggravated a thumb sprain in the penultimate game of the regular season against the Portland Trail Blazers, and has since been playing with a splint to protect/support it.
While Warrior fans have been talking about it for days, Brooks' tactics finally became a major talking point on Wednesday after a photo of Curry's swollen thumb went viral, and broadcaster Bob Fitzgerald alluded to it during the Game 5 loss.
That forced it into a significant topic in the post-game press conferences, with Brooks blatantly admitting that he is targeting Curry's thumb and arguing that it's fair game if a player is going to enter injured.
"If I had an injured ankle, I would attack that ankle every single time", Brooks said.
Golden State fans thinking it should be illegal were reflected by Steve Kerr, with the head coach stating that the league needs to make a change before someone gets seriously hurt.
"I'm very confident that next year the league will fix it because it's only a matter of time before someone breaks a thumb or breaks a hand," Kerr said.
For now it will be interesting to see whether the league can incorporate anything to dissuade Brooks from doing it over the remainder of this series. The likely answer is no, and it's perhaps even more unlikely that Brooks has a sudden change of heart and decides to play with a greater moral conscience.
It leaves Curry to play through the thumb pain and Brooks' efforts to make it worse. The 37-year-old was huge in Games 1 and 3 with 31 and 36 points respectively, but has been limited to just 30 points on 5-of-17 3-point shooting over the last two games.