LOS ANGELES — Dillon Brooks poked the bear again and enjoyed every bit of it.
Brooks lit up the Los Angeles Lakers for 33 points in the Phoenix Suns‘ 125-108 win Monday night, and his prolific scoring wasn’t the most entertaining aspect of his performance at his favorite road arena.
Brooks has been treated like a public enemy at Crypto.com Arena since the first round of the 2023 playoffs, when he boasted “I poke bears” and dismissively called LeBron James “old” after the Memphis Grizzlies‘ Game 2 win. Brooks struggled the rest of the series — his final games in a Memphis uniform — as the Lakers eliminated the Grizzlies in six games.
Brooks agitated the crowd and James throughout Monday’s contest. He talked trash relentlessly and celebrated several of his buckets with animated gestures that were strikingly similar to some of James’ favorite celebrations. For instance, Brooks stared down James after a transition dunk in the second quarter and twice did an exaggerated shoulder shrug, prompting jeers from fans.
“I love playing in this arena,” Brooks said. “They show me a lot of love in here, and I reciprocate it back.
“I’m a competitor, man. I don’t really like the smiling and the giggling and all that, so just letting them know that I’m here. And I’m still rising.”
James lingered by the Suns bench during a timeout late in the third quarter and barked at Brooks, who took great satisfaction in getting under the 40-year-old all-time leading scorer’s skin.
“He likes people that bow down,” Brooks, 29, said. “I don’t bow down. So, that either entices him or it aggravates him — either or.”
Brooks’ energy and antics amuse and inspire the Suns, who are off to a refreshing 13-9 start, an impressive rebound from last season’s 36-46 record.
“Sometimes, I’m trying to tell him to chill out, but I think he just blacks out,” said Phoenix point guard Collin Gillespie, who scored a career-high 28 points on Monday and whom Brooks has nicknamed “Villain Jr.” due to his tenacity. “That’s Dillon Brooks. It fuels us. Obviously, we love when he gets going. He’s the tone-setter for us. Consistent energy, brings it every night. He’s fearless. Doesn’t back down from anybody, and he will go toe-to-toe with anybody.”
Brooks had plenty to talk about, leading the Suns to a win despite their star guard Devin Booker exiting after 10 minutes due to a strained right groin. Phoenix snapped the Lakers’ seven-game winning streak, and James finished with only 10 points, barely extending his record regular-season streak of 1,297 straight games scoring in double figures.
“He’s the ultimate competitor,” first-year Suns coach Jordan Ott said of Brooks. “He’s talked a lot about coming back into this building. He had a tough playoffs a couple of years ago. This means something different to him. We feel that as a group. This means something different to him, so we obviously follow his lead.”
Brooks scored 23 points in the first half, including 15 in the second quarter, helping the Suns take a 14-point halftime lead. He made 10 of 11 shots from the floor during one span, exchanging trash talk with courtside fans on several occasions.
“They wanted me to keep shooting, so I kept shooting,” said Brooks, who finished 15-of-26 from the floor and is averaging a career-best 22.3 points per game.
Brooks’ name did not come up during James’ postgame media availability. But it’s not difficult to discern how James feels about Brooks.
After the Lakers cleared the bench in the fourth quarter, Brooks backed down Bronny James and was called for a travel before attempting a turnaround jumper. The television broadcast flashed to Bronny’s father on the Lakers’ bench as LeBron raised his right hand over his head with his thumb down.
