There aren’t many basketball gamers on Earth who can swing a recreation as radically as Dillon Brooks.
If there was one play that would outline the Phoenix Suns wing’s polarizing time within the NBA, the ultimate few seconds towards the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday might take the cake.
With time working out in a one-possession recreation, Brooks each almost gained his staff the sport and outright misplaced it for them with a single shot.
It was almost the stuff of miracles for the Suns, who had rallied again from a 20-point fourth-quarter deficit and had been in full management of the momentum.
Down two, Suns ahead Ryan Dunn stuffed Marcus Good on a drive to the rim, Devin Booker corralled the rebound, took it the opposite manner, missed a pull-up jumper however grabbed the rebound and despatched it out to Brooks behind the arc. The remainder was historical past.
Brooks gave the Suns a 114-113 lead with 12.2 to go, pulling down a three-pointer over bitter rival LeBron James. He then determined to speak some smack to James as he was strolling again down the courtroom — a typical Brooks resolution — however took it an additional step by bumping the 41-year-old along with his shoulder, drawing a technical foul.
Not solely did the technical foul give the Lakers free appears to be like from the charity stripe, however it additionally disqualified Brooks for the rest of the sport after he picked up his second tech on the evening.
He wound up ending the sport with 18 factors on six-of-nine taking pictures and four-of-seven from deep.
Although James missed the technical free throw, the Lakers wound up taking the lead after Booker fouled James with three seconds to go, giving him three makes an attempt on the line, to which he sank two and gave his staff a one-point lead.
It is not the primary time the Rexdale, Ont., born Brooks has gotten into warmth whereas taking part in towards James and the Lakers. “Dillon the Villain” gave James a style of his patented shoulder shrug of their first matchup of the 12 months on Dec. 1.
The gamers’ rivalry peaked throughout a first-round sequence in 2023, when Brooks challenged James forward of the playoff spherical earlier than they went back-and-forth with barbs and staredowns all through the six-game tilt.
After saying “I poke bears,” Brooks was ejected in Sport 3 for a flagrant foul towards James, and his Grizzlies — regardless of being the No. 2 seed — had been finally eradicated by the Lakers, with Brooks bearing the brunt of blame from followers and administration.
