The Phoenix Suns might have lost Game 3 at home to the Oklahoma City Thunder, but there was still plenty of reason to gush about the performance of Dillon Brooks.
In many ways he is the anti-Kevin Durant for how he has brought his teammates together this season and never gives up on a single possession.
Brooks has quietly become Suns' most clutch player when it counts
An unforeseen development in these playoffs however has been how the Canadian international is in no way afraid of the moment.
Go back and watch some of his shot-making in the fourth-quarter of Game 3 and tell us otherwise. The man was made for the bright lights, even if his side didn't win.
He could never take every shot as the game slipped away, and yet two of his four made 3-pointers in particular were of a ridiculous difficulty.
After that fourth-quarter sign us up for a lifetime of Dillon Brooks on the #Suns please (✍️ @LucaLockheart)https://t.co/VjUpehol1K
— Valley of the Suns (@ValleyoftheSuns) April 25, 2026
Compare that with Jalen Green, who forced some of his own shots late in the game and who was routinely bullied on the other end of the court.
Brooks gave his national teammate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander his flowers postgame by mentioning how efficient he was, but that didn't mean he had it all his own way.
Brooks making his life and really any Thunder player he was matched up against more difficult by being aggressive and if we're being honest, getting away with clever touches to try and put them off.
The most aggressive player in blue on the night was Alex Caruso, he charged into others trying to dislodge the ball, but Brooks was on a more refined level.
Being that defensive irritant was always part of the Brooks experience though, but being the guy you would want with the ball in his hands over Devin Booker is new territory.
It is not that the franchise cornerstone has gotten any worse, and he is seeing more difficult coverages to break down than Brooks.
But the Booker experience as we know and love it might just have peaked, and at some point that is going to have to be ok as well.
Interestingly Brooks also finished the regular season with a higher 3-point shooting percentage (34.4 percent) than Booker (33 percent), another small indicator that he is capable of making the biggest shots.
This development is both further proof the Suns won the Durant trade, but also a concern if it means Booker is no longer as reliant. For Dillon Brooks though, he's never looked more comfortable offensively.
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