Dillon Brooks and Rudy Gobert are two of the most notorious players in the NBA. Brooks has long been criticized for being a "dirty player" and letting his beefs get in the way of his play. Meanwhile, Gobert lost a lot of respect for his attitude towards COVID. He has also fielded a lot of criticism about being a bad teammate, especially after being seen fighting his own teammates at the end of last season.
These two polarizing figures ended up facing off on the opening night of the 2023 FIBA World Cup. The matchup saw Brooks' Canada take on Gobert's France. Early in the first quarter, with France leading 7-0, Brooks put Canada on the board with a nasty dunk over Gobert. Canada would go on to win by 30, 95-65, thanks to a 22-4 third quarter. Brooks finished with 12 points and four rebounds. Gobert had eight points and nine rebounds but a -17 plus/minus score. While France will almost certainly bounce back, this was the debut team of a Canadian squad fans have been waiting for for some time.
Read More: Rudy Gobert scores first career three-pointer in World Cup warm-up, immediately makes things weird
No One Is Quite Sure How To Feel About Brooks Dunking On Gobert
It's safe to say that fans feel conflicted about the moment. It's a nasty dunk and those are always great. However, no one wants to celebrate Brooks, nor feel bad for Gobert. On social media, most people are cautiously siding with Brooks for the sake of the dunk being pretty sick.
Of course, it's not the first time that Gobert has made headlines this week. He sat down with Sportsnet to discuss his beef with LeBron James during the NBA playoffs. It seemed as though Brooks was more than happy to embrace becoming the league's biggest villain. “I hear you crying to the ref, and that’s when I love it. That’s when I know I got you,” Brooks said. Elsewhere, he said that he "always felt like he had" LeBron. “I feel like that series was thrown upon me cause of the words that I say, but I’ve been saying things all year and we won 50 games.”
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