Things always get intense and chippy when Dillon Brooks makes it to the playoffs. This time, while facing the defending champions, the Thunder, in the Suns’ first-round series, he picked the matchup against his national teammate and the reigning MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
With less than six minutes left in the second quarter, Brooks was matched up with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He met his teammate at the rim and managed to make Gilgeous-Alexander miss his shot. He immediately turned to him and said something to let him know before bursting ahead on transition offense.
Dillon Brooks HUSTLING and letting SGA know 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/nMInqIU7in
— ESPN (@espn) April 23, 2026
When the Suns immediately turned the ball over, the Thunder tried to catch them off guard with a long ball to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was underneath the basket. Brooks managed to swat that away as well in a high-intensity sequence. But moments later, the Clutch Player of the Year got his revenge.
Gilgeous-Alexander got the ball from an inbound pass less than a minute after this incident. He went directly at Dillon Brooks and scored on him in the midrange. He instantly wanted to let Brooks know that he had his number, no matter what the Suns player tried.
The reigning MVP kept pointing at Brooks with a smug smile on his face as though he were telling him, ‘he really thought he could stop me.’
SHAI COOKING AND POINTING AT DILLON BROOKS 🍿 pic.twitter.com/RyB8tCCXOe
— ESPN (@espn) April 23, 2026
NBA fans saw this sequence on social media and made their opinions clear on what they witnessed from the Canadian teammates.
“Dillon Brooks really beefs with every superstar.”
“New meme alert!”
“Shai cooking and doing customer service at the same time: ‘Sir, your order of buckets is ready.'”
“Dillon Brooks needs to chill while playing basketball. Dude ends up looking like a clown.”
“He doesn’t respect bro at all.”
“Shai Gilgeous-Alexander cooking and pointing at Dillon Brooks like it’s personal 😭🔥.”
Both players have a lot of mutual respect for one another, but when they enter the court, they are out to kill and at each other’s throats. Even before the series began, Brooks took a veiled shot at Gilgeous-Alexander for flopping. So they know when it is time to turn up the intensity and keep their friendship aside.
What makes this sequence even more impressive is that earlier in the first quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander had hurt his finger and was visibly in pain before getting it looked at by the medical staff.
Shai appeared to hurt his hand on this play
Hope he is OK. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/PcKNNUHj73
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) April 23, 2026
Heading into the second half, the Thunder have an eight-point lead (65-57) at home. Gilgeous-Alexander had 17 points, two rebounds, and three assists at halftime while shooting 7-13 from the field (53.8 FG%).
Will Brooks be able to stop Gilgeous-Alexander in the second half, or will we witness more of the same domination from the MVP frontrunner? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
