The tension had been simmering all night in Phoenix on Tuesday, as the short-handed Suns—missing key starters like Devin Booker—clung to a narrow lead against the struggling Brooklyn Nets. With the score 104-102 in favor of Phoenix and just 1:14 remaining in the fourth quarter, a routine scramble for a loose ball under the basket exploded into chaos.

It started innocently enough: Suns guard Grayson Allen and Nets forward Ziaire Williams dove to the floor, tangling limbs in pursuit of possession. Dillon Brooks, ever the instigator on the court, jumped in to pry the ball free. That’s when Nets rookie Egor Demin stepped up and shoved Brooks, sending him tumbling. Brooks sold the contact a bit, but the push lit the fuse.

What followed was a full scrum—bodies flying, shoves exchanged, and coaches from both sides pouring onto the court trying to diffuse the situation. Amid the melee, Terance Mann and Suns forward Royce O’Neale locked up face-to-face, grabbing jerseys and jawing inches apart as security and officials rushed in to separate them. The scene had the energy of a heated rivalry game, not a mid-season matchup between a playoff hopeful and a lottery-bound team.

After an 11-minute delay to review the madness, referees assessed technical fouls to five players: Nets’ Egor Demin, Terance Mann, and Michael Porter Jr.; Suns’ Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale. Notably, Brooks—who already had a technical and a flagrant foul earlier in the game—was not hit with another, allowing him to stay on the floor. No ejections followed.

The Suns converted the awarded free throw, regained composure, and closed out the 106-102 victory, snapping a brief skid while handing the Nets their sixth straight loss. The incident overshadowed a gritty win for Phoenix and a strong individual performance from Nets star Michael Porter Jr. (season-high 36 points), but it underscored how quickly emotions can boil over when stakes feel high—even in January.

In the end, what began as a hustle play devolved into a classic NBA dust-up: a shove, a pile-on, and just enough restraint to keep everyone in the game. Brooks and Mann weren’t directly trading blows, but Mann’s entanglement with O’Neale became the visual flashpoint that defined the night’s most memorable moment.

Dillon Brooks avoids the worst

With both Jalen Green and Devin Booker sidelined, Dillon Brooks is amplifying his ‘Dillon for Villain’ persona to drive up the Suns’ offense. He was unapologetically aggressive against the Nets, diving and fighting for a loose ball against big man Nic Claxton.

The play caught Claxton squarely in the groin. That got him his first flagrant foul 1 of the game. He got tangled with Egor Demin right after and was frustrated at the refs for the lack of a whistle. Now that earned him a tech. He was on the verge of an ejection when the last-minute scuffle broke out.

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But Brooks smartly skedaddled out of the brawl. Royce O’Neale took the heat very willingly, arguing and engaging Terence Mann as teammates and coaches separated them.

Thanks to O’Neale, Brooks avoided another foul. That brings his season tally to 15 techs. One more and he could be suspended for a game. This kept him on the floor and avoided what would have been his 16th technical foul of the season (triggering an automatic one-game suspension under current NBA rules). But Brooks is not worried about the tech.

“Well, that’s getting rescinded,” he told reporters in the postgame conference. “The same foul that Curtis [Blair] gave me before, and a month ago, I got rescinded. I’m gonna get rescinded again. I feel like that play wouldn’t have happened if they blew their whistle with the foul call, because it ended up being a foul call.” Even with the flagrant call, he wasn’t buying it.

“The first one with the groin, hitting the groin,” Brooks mentioned to reporters. “Curtis is in the same spot when Michael Porter Jr. shoots the ball, hits Royce in the groin area… I’m like, so why are we not reviewing that? Why is it not a foul? Why is there no call on the play?”

NBA rules confirm: A player faces a one-game suspension (plus a $5,000 fine) upon their 16th unsportsmanlike technical foul in the regular season, with escalating penalties (additional games) for every two more after that.

On Tuesday night, O’Neale delayed that for the foreseeable future because the Suns can’t afford to lose another offensive powerhouse until Devin Booker is back.

And Grayson Allen, who was not happy about getting called, got his vengeance by putting the Suns up 106-102 and leading them to an important win.