The beauty of The Dillon Brooks Experience is you are inclined to use the old adage of “you never know what to expect.” But the reality is that, actually, most of the time we know what to expect. Especially when it came to his outing on Wednesday.
His 21 points on 8-of-22 shooting in the Phoenix Suns’ 117-98 win over the Memphis Grizzlies was easy to see coming and was the type of competitive energy to lift the Suns through what could have been a snooze of sorts.
Brooks as recently as this season has spoken on how the Memphis organization ruffled his feathers behind the scenes, the org that he spent his first six seasons with, and the split at the time in free agency three years ago was known not to end on the best of terms. The Grizzlies were direct about how they wanted to play Brooks in a specific, low-usage role. And if you do that, you’ve gotta be sure on the type of personality you’re dealing with. Either that or Memphis didn’t care at that point. Yeah, probably that.
That obviously has led to Brooks’ trips back to Tennessee since then being accompanied by a desire to show the Grizzlies he can be that type of guy.
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Brooks was expectedly even more aggressive than usual on Wednesday, with some of it just in the flow of the game and other instances more intentional in his efforts to isolate in 1-on-1 spaces. The thing about Brooks’ always-on switch that can be so perilous is that we have rarely seen teams send any help defenders in his direction, let alone double-terms. They are OK with letting him cook. And Brooks is fan of spending time in the kitchen.
His back-to-back triples late in the first half put him up to 18 points on 15 shots in 13 minutes, and also extended the Suns’ lead to 14 that would later grow to 18 at halftime.
Phoenix’s offensive process against a battered Grizzlies roster was as good as it has been in weeks, generating a 12-for-29 (41%) 3-point output in the first half alone that most teams would take for an entire game. While its defense was a little more sleepy, the Suns avoided any major lulls offensively and that let them control the game from there.
The total on 3s ended at a season-high 22 makes on a season-high 56 attempts. The 56 heaves were tied for the second most in franchise history, per Stathead.
This was an especially welcome victory for the Suns as a more definitive win against lesser competition, but also a landslide final to relax a bit on a road-intensive portion of the schedule. Wednesday marked the sixth fixture away from home across 12 of 16 that will be on the road. The Suns will come back to Phoenix for home contests on Friday and Sunday before a six-game swing on the East coast.
Memphis was without Ja Morant (right calf contusion), Cedric Coward (left ankle sprain), Zach Edey (left ankle stress reaction), Ty Jerome (right calf strain), Vince Williams Jr. (left patellar tendinitis), John Konchar (left thumb surgery) and Scotty Pippen Jr. (left toe surgery) while playing the second game of a back-to-back.
Grayson Allen didn’t have the best shooting night in his return from injury on Monday while he remained effective elsewhere. The stellar shooting came back on Wednesday in the form of 19 points on 7-for-13 shooting.
Jordan Goodwin keeps on rolling. He produced 11 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two steals, a block and zero turnovers in 21 minutes. Once Jalen Green (right hamstring strain) comes back, Goodwin projects as the eighth or ninth man in the rotation, an incredible come-up after making the roster as the 15th guy. He is also one of a few key guys to spotlight to see if he can maintain his effectiveness in a smaller role.
Goodwin’s confidence on offense is at an all-time high, with some of his off-the-dribble work flashing the combo guard possibilities that were looked at when he was originally acquired in the Bradley Beal trade. The play of him and Collin Gillespie will make it difficult to find much room for youngins Ryan Dunn and Rasheer Fleming, two long-term developmental pieces that also bring much needed size to the wing group. But head coach Jordan Ott has made it work with a smaller roster and just has to play his best guys once the team is fully assembled. Goodwin is one of those guys.
Speaking of Fleming, he has quietly earned the secondary wing minutes near the end of the bench ahead of Isaiah Livers and Nigel Hayes-Davis. Livers has been decent in those while Hayes-Davis struggled, but the choice with the last week-plus likely has to do with how the Suns are about to get fully healthy and Fleming’s potential opportunities are going to dry up considerably.
Fleming has largely looked like a rookie in these small pockets, which is to be expected, especially with how it’s mostly been just a few minutes at the start of the second quarter. He hasn’t been able to put together a signature performance, and the large ask of doing that a few times in this minute role is the only way he was going to crack the rotation at full strength.
Wednesday did feature his biggest highlight thus far, a baseline jam that if anything showcases how freakishly long his arms are.
FLEMING pic.twitter.com/1PtzzRVeqE
— Cage (@ridiculouscage) January 8, 2026
In all likelihood, Fleming’s most important stretch of his NBA career will be this summer, earning more trust to show that his floor awareness has reached a level to where his unreal physical attributes can start to shine, also in a way where Phoenix won’t look to add players that could take his minutes.
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