The Phoenix Suns entered the week waiting for news on the availability of star forward Dillon Brooks for their upcoming game against Western Conference opponent the Houston Rockets.
Phoenix improved to 43-35 with a 120-110 win over the Chicago Bulls on Sunday, keeping the Suns alive in the race to avoid the play-in and clinching a postseason berth outright.
On the other end of Tuesday's matchup, the Rockets are facing a slightly better but similarly tight race for seeding within the conference. Houston holds the No. 5 seed but can still climb up the standings to as high as the No. 3 to have home-court advantage through the first two rounds of the playoffs.
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The availability of Brooks for Tuesday thus became a factor immediately following Sunday’s game.
Brooks was assessed his 18th technical foul of the season during a fourth-quarter exchange with Bulls guard Mac McClung. The call was expected to force Brooks to miss one game due to technical-foul accumulation under league rules.
Under league policy, Brooks had already served a suspension earlier in the season after reaching 16 technical fouls. From that point forward, every additional two technicals carry another suspension.
However, on Monday, the NBAreversed that outcome.
“The technical fouls on Dillon Brooks (PHX) and Mac McClung (CHI) issued with 7:24 remaining in the 4th quarter on April 5 have been rescinded upon league office review,” the NBA announced.
The decision makes Brooks eligible for Tuesday’s game against the Rockets coming off a game at Chicago in which he finished with 15 points on 6-of-15 shooting, along with four rebounds, three assists and two steals.
The Suns will host the Rockets at PHX Arena with tip-off set for 11 p.m. ET.
