PHOENIX — A come-from-behind rally after blowing a lead in the fourth quarter to the now 12-33 Brooklyn Nets via a 16-2 run doesn’t scream “good win” for the Phoenix Suns, and yet, the 106-102 final on Tuesday was just that.
Phoenix already knew it would be without Devin Booker (right ankle sprain) and Jalen Green (right hamstring injury management) coming into the game, but got more bad news pregame when Collin Gillespie (left hand sprain) and Isaiah Livers (illness) were also both ruled out.
That heightened the pressure on just about everyone to step up in a way they hadn’t been asked to all year, and through a lot of grime we’ll get to in a minute, the Suns found a way to win.
A season-high 72 points in the paint was the main reason why, fueled by a purposeful intention to get Mark Williams the ball. Phoenix’s starting center has been going through a major slump as far as impacting the game lately, but this showed how great he can be when “letting the game come to you” works to perfection.
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Suns overcome late kerfuffle, earlier Dillon Brooks technical and flagrant to beat Nets
Due to Brooklyn’s switch-heavy scheme with aggressive coverage at times on ball screens, the Suns exploited that by constantly finding Williams on the short roll and even a few postups. It sprouted a season-high 27 points for him.
Williams came into the night with only 15 field goal attempts on postups, per NBA tracking data, before by far the most utilization for him out of that space this year. It is not a part of his game that he showed much craft in previously but you wouldn’t have guessed that on Tuesday. He was remarkably efficient on 13-of-15 shooting, with many of those makes coming further away from the basket than you’d expect, where high-level touch was required.
The Suns also got back to business on winning the margins after it failed to in a shorthanded state on Sunday. Points off turnovers were 25-15 Suns and second-chance points were 17-12 Suns.
This was a physical game after a first quarter that lacked any juice. From the second quarter on, the Suns got on the hardwood for loose balls more than they ever have.
That resulted in a lot of chippy behavior, and as much as I would love to avoid any mention of the officials in every story so the basketball played is just about the players, it was unfortunately the story of the night.
Phoenix led by as many as a dozen in the second half, with that aforementioned defensive energy seeming to create a pull-away point. At seven minutes to go, the lead was 10 before Phoenix turned it over on three of its next four possessions.
Grayson Allen then missed on a drive up two and would commit a foul that was rightfully upgraded to a Flagrant 1 that put Brooklyn ahead by a point.
The Nets then knocked down 3s on back-to-back possessions, making it a 19-5 run overall that put Phoenix down four with three-and-a-half minutes to go.
The Suns’ response would come from Williams, who scored on back-to-back possessions, and after a finish by Allen answered a pair of free throws for the Nets, Brooks got his own pair to put the Suns back up by two at 1:23 left.
That’s when the Suns forced Brooklyn’s 21st turnover and all hell broke loose.
During the mad scramble for the loose ball that wound up pin-balling under the Nets basket, Ziaire Williams and Allen were tying up for a jump ball. During this, Brooks stood over them and made sure to definitively grab the ball as well, trying to rip it from Williams.
While this was happening and Brooks managed to lift Williams slightly off the ground, the whistle blew (way too late), which is exactly when Brooklyn’s Egor Demin shoved Brooks off his teammate. Royce O’Neale did not like that at all, lighting the torch to the entire kerfuffle by his confronting of O’Neale that ended with him jostling alongside Terance Mann for quite a while.
There were too many bodies involved to keep track of. Well, besides Brooks, who in a veteran maneuver just stayed down on the ground for the best seat in the house (and to ensure he wouldn’t put himself in a position to get a technical foul).
never seen so many assistant coaches run out to the court before lmao pic.twitter.com/ybHxNbEU6C
— Cage (@ridiculouscage) January 28, 2026
O’Neale would not disclose to Arizona Sports what was said between he and Mann.
“Every time I’m gonna defend my teammates,” he said.
In total, five technical fouls were called, three on Brooklyn and two on Phoenix. One was on Nets star Michael Porter Jr. for shoving a Suns assistant coach, which the lead official said in the pool report postgame did not warrant an ejection, nor did Demin for setting off the entire thing.
Phoenix got one free throw out of it, which Allen missed. But in the style of the game, the two teams traded turnovers before Allen scored the deciding bucket on a wonderful step-through finish around the key.
The ugly, massive scrum can be blamed entirely on frustration mounting throughout the night that the referees induced.
The officials attempted to tighten up the game in the way it seems like they are trained to do so these situations are avoided, but all they did was piss everyone off on both sides all evening. That anger kept boiling and boiling. The reviews on some incidental stuff, lack of reviews on non-incidental stuff and nauseating amount of late whistles that genuinely felt like intentional rage bait had everyone more fired up than they should have been.
Brooks picked up a Flagrant 1 and a technical foul in the first half on separate plays, both of which serve as the most direct evidence yet that Brooks is graded differently than just about anyone else in the league (and unfairly). The flagrant came as Brooks reached for a loose ball, and on his second try, he hit Nic Claxton low.
That is a common occurrence in basketball, a bang-bang play. And yet, the pool report deemed it was a “high risk of injury” after Brooks “had windup and impact to Claxton’s groin area.”
Absolute reputation flagrant call on Dillon Brooks for his fourth of the year.
He was CLEARLY going for the ball, not trying to hit Nic Claxton.
He is two flagrant fouls away from a suspension. pic.twitter.com/SpbqZpVIwA
— Erik Ruby (@ErikRuby) January 28, 2026
The technical came on another loose ball, this time while Brooks was fouled and held. The pool report included the official saying he did not see the Brooklyn player (Demin) instigating the play by grabbing Brooks, who “shoved Demin to the ground” according to the pool report.
Dillon Brooks was given a technical foul for this play…
His 15th tech this season, he is one away from suspension. pic.twitter.com/v2BkOI9gI1
— PHNX Suns (@PHNX_Suns) January 28, 2026
If you’ll allow me to be an old man on the porch for a few moments, both came via a video review, the latest instance of many that represent an epidemic happening in the sport.
Basketball is a beautiful game filled with constant pace and excitement, factors that are getting drained out by vampires that are constantly calling for reviews, used as a tool officials are now becoming far too reliant on. The review for Brooks’ technical foul didn’t even have an official foul call during the whistle, so the extended timeout simply functioned as a way for the referees to go over what they missed in live action.
On top of that, the urge to get everything as correct as possible is ruining the watching experience of NBA games, particularly at the end of ’em. The review of the skirmish took over eight minutes and that is not including the handful of other reviews earlier in the night that easily add up to over 15 minutes of additional intermissions.
The league must seriously explore expediting these processes and cutting down on how often reviews can 1) happen and 2) be used as a crutch for officials. Referees are often too involved as it is and this has taken that control of the game into overdrive.
There is a strong chance both fouls on Brooks are rescinded and Brooklyn wasn’t ready to throw a fit if neither play got reviewed. If you think about it, this is yet another issue, as referees are able to rely on the potential of rescinding these fouls so there’s no harm (outside of the actual effect on the game) if they indeed got it wrong.
If for some reason both stand, Brooks would be one technical foul away from the suspension for 16 and two flagrant foul points away from a separate suspension. The latter system assesses a Flagrant 1 as one point and Flagrant 2 as two. This was Brooks’ fourth Flagrant 1 and he does not have a Flagrant 2 yet.
Brooks, by the way, was tremendous with 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting.
Gillespie sprained his right hand in Sunday’s loss to the Miami Heat. Suns head coach Jordan Ott said pregame Gillespie tried everything he could to play with it, which is expected given this is the first game Gillespie has missed all year and he has hobbled through ailments all year. It’s bad timing with not only the top-tier absences but the Suns beginning a stretch of four games in six days.
It is a major loss no matter how minor the injury is. You could argue Gillespie has been the Suns’ third-best player and he is the ring leader of an elite second unit.
While he’s started 27 games, Gillespie has been the first sub out that is reinserted with a few minutes to go in the first quarter, creating a group with Oso Ighodaro and Jordan Goodwin that banners one of the best benches in the league. Phoenix has 11 different combinations of trios that have played at least 350 minutes together, and that threesome outscores teams by 16.3 points per 100 possessions, far ahead of the Suns’ second-best unit of Booker, Gillespie and Mark Williams at a 9.4 net rating.
Without their three best ball-handlers, the Suns started Goodwin with Brooks, Williams, Allen, and O’Neale. Amongst the reserves, that put a lot of onus on Ighodaro and two-way signing Jamaree Bouyea.
Livers was coming off one of his best games of the season, leaping Ryan Dunn in the rotation for at least that night. Without him, it not only set up Dunn for more minutes through his inconsistent stretch, but rookie Rasheer Fleming to get some legitimate run too.
Nigel Hayes-Davis got a nod along with Fleming and the pair provided some great energy on the wing that got Bouyea attacking downhill off misses.
This play below is a great example of all three chaining something together. Hayes-Davis comes over to contest while Fleming recovers for a block, which lets Bouyea cook in transition.
can’t get past the long arms of fleming pic.twitter.com/onxHaTmFs6
— Cage (@ridiculouscage) January 28, 2026
The team defense also spiked.
Look at the Suns work defensively.
Multiple efforts, impact with help, sharp rotations. pic.twitter.com/M06r995g7M
— Stephen PridGeon-Garner ? (@StephenPG3) January 28, 2026
Dunn had his best outing in weeks with nine points, two rebounds, two assists and four steals in 21 minutes. Bouyea played 25 to get 10 points.
Green was questionable again for the second straight game. Ott said pregame that Green will not need to clear a 5-on-5 threshold to get back. If there’s any way to interpret his answer on when Green will be back, it sounds like it’s on the player more.
“It’s more just feel good, the objective measure is good — we’re right there,” Ott said. “It’s nothing new, so that’s helpful. Just ease the mind. He’s been out two months, so some of that is expected. It’s obviously a new era for him too. He’s never had something like this before.”
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