Dillon Brooks is having a career year for the Phoenix Suns. The league-wide pest had developed a similar reputation to Patrick Beverley in recent years with the Houston Rockets, but after being traded to the Suns, he has become a legitimate scorer while staying a pest for his biggest foes, like Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers and Suns have played three times this season, with the Suns taking two of three. Brooks was the leading scorer for the Suns in both of their wins, and had some on-court beef with both Doncic and LeBron James. It was nothing out of the ordinary for Brooks, but it was very clear that he doesn’t like the Lakers, and that the players in purple and gold don’t like him.
However, Brooks recently admitted that Doncic — for all their on-court beef — has been the hardest player in the entire NBA for him to guard, via N3onHQ:
“Luka. He’s deceivingly quick. That quick first step, and then once he has you on his hip, it’s like, you’re kind of at his mercy. The foul-baiting, or he has countless of moves like step-throughs, fade-aways. You see him like he just torched up Washington last night. Triple-double in the first half.”
This is not the first defensive-minded player to give Luka this crown, and for the same reason. Doncic may seem like he’s moving at slow motion on the court sometimes, but what he’s really doing is manipulating the speed of the game, and doing do to the defense with it.
Brooks describes Doncic’s first step that gets the defender on his back hip as deceptively quick, and that’s exactly how Luka manipulates time on the basketball court. He plays at a pace that only he knows how to follow, and it leads defenses to always be one step behind in guarding him.
The Lakers and Suns play two more times this season, on Feb. 26 and April 10. It’s also possible that they are a first-round playoff matchup given the crowded Western Conference. Either way, at least behind Brooks’ pesky nature will be a clear respect for the way Doncic plays.
LeBron James loves everything about Luka Doncic
James’ future with the Lakers in firmly in question, and has been ever since the team traded for Doncic. However, what is not in question is LeBron’s positivity about Luka as a person and player. He recently said that he loves everything about the Slovenian superstar.
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