PHOENIX \u2014 Dillon Brooks doesn\u2019t shy from controversy or a challenge. That\u2019s why the Phoenix Suns forward had a clear preference on which team he wanted to face next in the NBA\u2019s Play-In Tournament: The Golden State Warriors.<\/p>\n
And his reasoning was simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cSteph and Draymond,\u201d Brooks said after Thursday\u2019s practice. \u201cAnd Steve Kerr.\u201d<\/p>\n
Behind Steph Curry and Draymond Green, the Warriors defeated the LA Clippers<\/a> on Wednesday night to advance to Friday\u2019s elimination contest against Phoenix. The Suns have stewed since losing Tuesday night\u2019s Play-In contest against the Portland Trail Blazers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Friday\u2019s winner in downtown Phoenix secures the Western Conference\u2019s eighth seed and will face the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the playoffs. The loser goes home.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know what\u2019s at stake,\u201d Suns forward Royce O\u2019Neale said.<\/p>\n Brooks\u2019 Golden State preference is no surprise. He has history with Curry, Green and even Kerr, the Warriors\u2019 long-time coach. That history fuels his competitive drive.<\/p>\n In December, Brooks closed out to contest a late Curry 3-point attempt from the corner. While doing so, he struck the Golden State star in the midsection, earning a flagrant foul from the officials and harsh words from the Warriors.<\/p>\n Curry called Brooks\u2019 actions \u201cbush league<\/a>.\u201d Kerr later said Brooks has a track record of such plays, mentioning a hard foul on Gary Payton Jr.<\/a> during the 2022 playoffs that resulted in a fractured elbow. Brooks played for Memphis at the time. While the Payton foul was extreme, his methods still spark controversy.<\/p>\n Brooks lives to get inside the heads of opponents. Before a recent game, the Suns\u2019 social-media team asked players who they\u2019d most like to play in a dream 1-on-1 matchup. Most Suns players picked retired superstars. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady.<\/p>\n Always the villain, Brooks said LeBron James. His NBA nemesis.<\/p>\n At Thursday\u2019s practice, Brooks made it clear he has great respect for Curry, calling the Warriors\u2019 star one of the best to ever do it and one who has proven his greatness time and time again.<\/p>\n Wednesday\u2019s win against the Clippers provided the latest example. In a must-win contest, Curry scored 27 of his 35 points in the second half, helping the Warriors erase a late 13-point deficit. The 38-year-old Golden State superstar was playing in just his fifth contest since missing 27 games with knee issues. At times, it was difficult to tell.<\/p>\n \u201cHe looked like the same Steph Curry,\u201d Suns coach Jordan Ott said Thursday. \u201cYou can guard him however many minutes you think you\u2019re guarding him, then all of a sudden the explosion happens.\u201d<\/p>\n Preventing the Curry explosion will be Phoenix\u2019s greatest task. Brooks may not defend Curry exclusively \u2014 guard Jordan Goodwin will likely contribute as well \u2014 but this is the type of challenge he craves.<\/p>\n \u201cI know we\u2019re going to be ready to play,\u201d Brooks said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 Dillon Brooks doesn\u2019t shy from controversy or a challenge. That\u2019s why the Phoenix Suns forward had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,8217,459,6002,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-609427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-golden-state-warriors","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-phoenix-suns","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}