The Phoenix Suns' exciting start can be attributed to many factors this season, though the obvious level of scoring from Devin Booker and the added juice from forward Dillon Brooks have been two crucial puzzles pieces in Phoenix.
We knew Booker would be a strong scoring option with Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal out of the picture, clearing a runway for Booker's numbers to rise.
Yet nobody projected Brooks' career-high 21.2 points per night — or the culture-setting intensity he's displayed for the Suns to follow all season long.
Speaking at NBA All-Star festivities, Booker was asked about playing with Brooks:
"Dillon is a hard worker, man. He's easily someone to rally behind. He's a fierce competitor, and I wouldn't want it any other way," Booker said (h/t Shane Young, Suns.com)
"I'd rather [him] be too competitive than it be the other way. It's been a pleasure playing with him, we've enjoyed it. Still have a lot of work to do, but our chemistry has grown. Dillon, he is who he is and we love him for it. He's a hell of a hooper, which a lot of people don't talk about. I enjoy being his teammate."
The Suns are 32-23 under first-year head coach Jordan Ott, who has equally sung the praises of Booker and Brooks this season.
Brooks has been somewhat of an enforcer for the Suns while simultaneously assembling numerous technical fouls along the way — which he was just suspended for after picking up his 16th of the year, becoming the first player since DeMarcus Cousins to do so before the All-Star break.
"He's been tremendous. We love his energy. We love his competitive spirit. It's lifted our entire group. We feed off of it," Ott said previously of Brooks.
"He works extremely hard off the court and on game days. He brings it every single night. ... We've talked about it. He's got to get to the edge and not go over. It's with the whole group. It's with myself. How we handle the emotions of these competitive games. Every night in the West, it is a battle. We're glad to be in these arenas and in these fights. We'll take all the energy and emotion he has with it, we just don't want to go over the line."
It was a very unlikely duo ahead of the year, though with the hopeful emergence of a fully healthy Jalen Green, the sun seems to only be rising in Phoenix.
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