Games on the road against quality competition are never easy, and the margins can get razor-thin in a hurry. The Phoenix Suns are coming off two losses where they easily could have walked away with wins in both. When that starts happening, the ‘disease of what if’ begins to creep in.
In this case, that conversation circles around Dillon Brooks.
Everything Brooks has brought to Phoenix, the attitude, the toughness, the edge, has reshaped this team. His brand of basketball, and the way he pulls teammates
into that same mindset, is stamped all over the Suns you see now. I would not trade that for anyone. This team needed a cultural overhaul, and Brooks delivered it.
With that said, the next hurdle for him is self-awareness. If that part sharpens even a little, the Suns probably add a few more marks in the win column.
Look at last night. With Devin Booker and Jalen Green out, a combined $86.4 million in payroll, it was clear someone had to carry the load. That someone was Grayson Allen. He finished with 33 points on 11-of-25 shooting and set the tone offensively from the opening tip. Doing that on the road, against the top team in the Eastern Conference, a group with the second-best defensive rating in the NBA, is no small ask. What stood out most, though, was how the Suns stayed true to who they are. They competed. They absorbed the contact. They gutted it out. That says plenty about the culture they are building.
They had plenty of hurdles to clear. Jalen Duren living in the paint. A physical team more than willing to push back. But one of the biggest hurdles ended up being Dillon Brooks himself.
The inefficiency was brutal. He finished 4-of-16 from the field for 16 points and fouled out with 6 personals. On paper, that looks like a familiar Dillon Brooks night, especially when the stars are sidelined. He is always willing to take the shots, and I am not going to crush him for that instinct. But there are nights when you can feel it early. When you know you do not have it. Last night was one of those nights for Brooks.
I would have much rather seen more deference to Collin Gillespie or Jordan Goodwin than what we got offensively from Brooks. Gillespie took 10 shots and turned them into 18 points. Goodwin took 8 shots and finished with 7 points. Both were giving the team something cleaner within the flow.
The same theme showed up against Miami. The over-aggressiveness. The emotions creeping over the line. The flow of the game getting junked up late when the Suns were still in it. Every team needs an enforcer, and Phoenix needed one that night. But self-awareness has to step in at some point. No need to exaggerate follow-throughs. That is how Brooks picked up a technical that was later rescinded. That is how he ended up with a flagrant 1 after a missed three that would have tied the game in the final minute. Those moments matter. The Heat capitalized, the lead ballooned, and the Suns never recovered.
Over the last two games, Brooks is shooting 3-of-16 from deep. That comes out to a cool 18.8%. No one is asking him to be something he is not. This is about self-awareness. About understanding what helps the team most in that moment.
The best thing he can give this group is opportunity. Opportunity comes from recognizing when the shot is not there, staying engaged on the floor, and resisting fouls that add nothing and disrupt the rhythm. The Suns are a team built on flow. When that flow gets interrupted, everything tightens.
Brooks can bring the antics. He can bring the edge. Those things have value, especially when Devin Booker and Jalen Green are out there to steady the offense. That is part of his role. When those two are missing, and he is asked to be a stabilizing force, the role changes. The edge still matters. Going over it does not.
So far on this trip, he has crossed that line. Two games. Eleven fouls. Two flagrants. One technical that later got rescinded. The point Norman Powell made still counted. That part does not get taken back.
Yeah, it really is the 85%, 15% equation with Dillon Brooks. You love what he gives you most of the time, and you brace yourself for the part that makes your blood pressure spike. That is the deal. That is the Dillon Brooks experience. You live by the Dillon. You die by the Dillon. Over the last two games, the Suns have died by it.
That is why getting Devin Booker and Jalen Green back matters so much. Their presence shrinks Brooks’ shot diet and lets him slide back into the role where he thrives. The disruptor. The irritant. The emotional anchor who tilts the floor without having to carry the offense. If that comes with a little more cerebral feel and self-awareness layered on top, even better. That is the version of Dillon Brooks this team needs when it is whole again.
Until then? The focus needs to be on making winning plays, not plays that prevent you from winning.
