LOS ANGELES-- Every postseason series needs a villain?

Despite the sport, and no matter whether it's an early round or for the champion, the heel can be an important component, as important for producing interest in a major competitors as it remains in the kayfabe of pro wrestling. The man who can sidetrack and annoy and get the other team's fans shouting his name in frequently unprintable and imaginative methods might not always assist his team win. However he can make things a lot more fascinating, offer those opposition fans a common cause and provide casual fans an extra reason to tune in.

( Tell me, Laker fans of long, long standing, that you do not still miss mocking Kevin McHale simply a teeny, tiny bit. Go on and boo. It'll make you feel better.).

In this Lakers-Grizzlies series, I believe we all understand by now who the heel is. From the minute the Memphis Grizzlies' Dillon Brooks said the words, "I poke bears" and stated that LeBron James simply may be previous his "best by" date, we knew. Brooks was the guy who wished to be Draymond Green when he matured.

He does have a method to go, this fifth-year, 6-foot-7 forward from Oregon by method of Mississauga, Ontario. He is a simple irritant compared to Green's provocateur status with the Golden State Warriors-- the championship rings might be a clue-- however you can make the case that Brooks is one-up on Golden State's veteran. Green got a one-game rip from the league for stepping on the chest of Domantas Sabonis after Game 2 of the Warriors-Sacramento Kings series, and while Sabonis might have provoked it by grabbing Green's ankle, the league's description of the suspension took Green's past history of occurrences into account.

Brooks, meanwhile, got ejected for a flagrant nasty 2 however didn't get suspended for his shot to LeBron's groin during Game 3 on Saturday night. And he utilized Sunday's off-day accessibility to grumble that the media and fans were staining his reputation.

" The media making me a villain, the fans making me a bad guy and then that simply produces a whole various persona on me," he informed reporters following a practice at Galen.

Our suggestions? May as well roll with it. He's going to get mocked each time he deals with the Lakers in L.A. for a while, so why not welcome that persona? If you're going to be a bad person, be the baddest.

Naturally, welcoming that personality means raising your game, too. The jeers of Laker fans may have rattled Brooks in Game 3, when he was 3 for 13 from the field before getting ejected simply seconds after halftime.

And maybe the defining moment of a 117-111 Lakers overtime success in Game 4 was simply part of the plot: James driving right over Brooks for the basket that sealed it with 29.4 seconds left. James ended up the night with 22 points, 20 rebounds and 7 helps; Brooks ended up with 11 points, five rebounds and 4 assists. The numbers that count the most: The Lakers lead the best-of-seven series 3-1, and Brooks' season could be over as early as Wednesday.

And, as held true after Game 3, Brooks decreased to talk with the media. The bad guy's role can be difficult work.

Really, though, it shouldn't be that off-putting for Brooks. He led the league in technical fouls this year with 18, and while Ja Morant may be the face of the young and often extremely energetic Grizzlies, Brooks may be their chirpy voice. He was suspended one video game in February for devoting an ostentatious 2 against Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell-- and initiating a brawl-- with, once again, a blow to the groin location in what the NBA's statement termed "an unsportsmanlike manner.".

( If there's a method to do so in a sportsmanlike way … … no, I don't need to know about it.).

And there was a suspension in last year's Western Conference semifinals versus the Warriors for an ostentatious 2 against Gary Payton II that led to Payton breaking his wrist. And, oh, let's not forget the $35,000 fine previously this season for shoving a professional photographer.

This is who the Grizzlies are, young, loud and more than a wee bit spontaneous. Keep in mind the run-in throughout a March video game in Los Angeles when a variety of Grizzlies, including Brooks and Morant, took loud exception to TV character Shannon Sharpe's heckling, en path to a come-from-ahead loss to the Lakers?

Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins was asked throughout his pre-game media rundown Monday night about his group's maturity and decision-making, and particularly "what have you seen throughout the season that leads you to believe that this team has taken actions (toward) maturity relative to the previous few seasons?".

The answer certainly was if the concern wasn't an idea.

"Our men discover a method to respond. And, you understand, that's the thing that I always have faith in.

Nothing's going to change over night. When we wear it and we understand the battles we're going through separately, collectively, on off the court and all that stuff, and we sit down, we honestly talk about it and we face that, you're hopefully going to turn a corner for sure.".

How would that translate?

" There's all sort of talk and all this things," Jenkins stated. "We got to go and back it up. That's what I inform our men all the time. I mean, what's gotten us here is our confidence and our swag. Then we likewise have to be able to go out and back it up and do it on Grizzlies terms.".

The difference between youth and experience, though, may be how that emotion is used. Lakers coach Darvin Ham, as expected, does not need to state excessive to his people about not letting the chatter sidetrack them.

" Yeah, you know, I believe I might have touched it as soon as," he said. "Bron and (Anthony Davis), they're our 2 captains and they've been fantastic in keeping the people, along with themselves, focused on what we need to carry out in between the lines and not in the headings.".

It's working.