Dillon Brooks didn’t waste the chance to take a shot after the Suns handled the Rockets and Kevin Durant had a rough night against his former team.
Durant finished Saturday’s game 5-of-14 from the field, though he still got to 21 points by knocking down 10 of 11 free throws. A lot of his scoring came at the line, and Alperen Sengun had a similar kind of night, fighting through a tough shooting performance on his way to 15 points.
The backdrop made the matchup even sharper. Durant has spent the past year trading jabs with Phoenix, and that tension picked up again before the season when Suns owner Mat Ishbia told CNBC he regretted the Durant trade. Durant fired back on X, and the back-and-forth kept rolling while Ishbia stayed above it.
Brooks, who has a long history of going at Durant and was traded for him in the summer of 2025, seemed to lean right into that energy. After the game, he framed the Suns’ defensive effort around the team’s identity and slipped in a pointed nod to the owner.
"That’s our culture. We play hard, we play together, and we try to challenge ourselves to do great. So shout out to Mat," Brooks said about the defense they played against Durant and Sengun.
It was the kind of line Brooks knows will land with a little extra bite. He made sure to get a dig in there, and he clearly wasn’t trying to let Durant walk away without another reminder that the Suns were ready for the moment.
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Dillon Brooks Just Gave Rockets Fans Another Reason To Hate This Matchup
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Brooks also made it clear he wants his response to land squarely on Durant, not in the usual vague, indirect NBA internet style. For Rockets fans, it is another reminder that this matchup comes with more than the usual playoff-style tension, especially with Brooks leaning into the moment and promising to meet Durants comments head-on. [Read more 🡒]