Dillon Brooks already villain role for NBA Playoffs, dubs Thunder 'foul baiters'

Yahoo Sports3h ago34 min readOriginal source →

TL;DR

The Thunder will face the Suns in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, marking their first playoff matchup since 1997. Dillon Brooks has already taken on a villain role, labeling the Thunder as 'foul baiters.'

Key points

Thunder face Suns in first round of NBA Playoffs
Game 1 scheduled for Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Dillon Brooks labels Thunder as 'foul baiters'
Last playoff meeting between Thunder and Suns was in 1997
Suns advanced after beating Golden State in elimination game

Mentioned in this story

Dillon BrooksWayman TisdaleSteve NashJason Kidd

ThunderSunsGolden StatePortland

The Thunder entered its 18th year of existence having already played a playoff series against all but two of its 14 Western Conference foes: Phoenix and Sacramento.

Cross off the former.

The No. 1 seed Thunder will face the No. 8 seed Suns at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Game 1 of a first-round series.

After losing to Portland in its first play-in game, Phoenix bounced back by beating Golden State 111-96 in Friday night’s elimination game.

These two franchises — the Thunder and Suns — haven’t met in the playoffs since 1997, when the No. 2 seed SuperSonics beat the No. 7 seed Suns in a five-game first-round series. Sooner great Wayman Tisdale was on that Suns team. Steve Nash was a rookie. Jason Kidd had been acquired midseason from the Mavericks. But those Sonics, with Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp, were too much for the Suns.

Now that we finally have a Thunder-Suns series, the wait is on for Thunder-Kings.

… We might be waiting a while.

The Thunder, since its inception in 2008, is about to play in its 27th playoff series. The Kings have played in one playoff series during that same span.

INSIDE THE MATCHUPS: Thunder vs Suns: Who has the edge in first round of NBA Playoffs?