Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks has been suspended one game by the NBA following his 16th technical foul of the season, which happened in the second quarter of Wednesday night’s loss to the Thunder. After the game, Brooks doubled down with comments on the officiating.
“Yeah. He said I’m playing victim all the time,” Brooks said. “And when I don’t play victim, I’m the bad guy. Choose one. … If you’re going to be consistently bad, then be consistently bad throughout the whole game. Don’t try to fix it during the game. Don’t trying to be doing any of that or try to even out foul calls or whatever it may be. If you’re going to be bad, be bad the whole game.”
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Brooks has built a reputation and thrives on playing the villain, dating back to his time with the Memphis Grizzlies. His 16th technical comes with an automatic one-game suspension plus a $5,000 fine based on league rules regarding technical fouls.
Despite the excessive number of technical fouls Brooks has drawn thus far, statistically, he’s having the best year of his NBA career, especially in the scoring category. Brooks is averaging a career-best 21.2 points in 49 games. The Suns finished last season 10 games under .500 (36-46). More than halfway through this year, Phoenix is nine games over .500 (32-23) and currently one game back of the Los Angeles Lakers for the sixth seed in the Western Conference.
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Much of the team’s turnaround can be attributed to the season Brooks is having. Brooks takes on the role of the player who gets in his opponents’ heads on whatever team he’s played for and does it well. This has almost become routine for Brooks as it wasn’t his first suspension handed down by the league and likely won’t be his last.
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