Fastbreak: Brooks ballin' for the Rockets
Brooks ballin' for the Rockets
Thursday, March 26, 12 p.m. PT
Since his insertion into the starting lineup, former Oregon men’s basketball standout Aaron Brooks has helped the Houston Rockets move up the Western Conference standings. The Rockets have posted a record of 14-5 and Brooks is averaging 13.9 points and 4.2 assists per game since becoming the team’s full-time point guard.
Houston traded then starting point guard Rafer Alston to the Orlando Magic on Thursday, Feb. 19, as a part of a three-team deal with the Memphis Grizzlies. This opened the door for Brooks, who has taken full advantage of the new role.
Just one day after being handed the reins to the Rockets’ offense, Brooks made himself right at home in his new position, knocking down two clutch three-pointers to help lead Houston to a 93-86 victory over Dallas on Feb. 20. He came up big, scoring 19 points to go along with eight assists and six rebounds in that home win.
Houston coach Rick Adelman knew all along that Brooks was capable, "He's going to make big shots," Adelman said following Brooks’ late heroics against Dallas. "It did not surprise me that he made those shots down the stretch. He has the ability, he's done that his whole career in college."
Even Alston, who was averaging 11.5 points and 5.4 assists at the time of the trade, had high praise for Brooks: "I thought maybe they would do it in the summer," Alston said when asked by the AP on Feb. 20 if he expected to be traded. "But Brooks is good. I love the way he plays and attacks the game. You can't get mad at an organization that wants to improve or look forward to the future. At some point it was going to happen."
During the month of March, Brooks has increased his scoring output to 14.5 points per game while maintaining a 2.52 assist/turnover ratio. The Rockets are 10-4 in games this month.
The 6-foot guard from Seattle, Wash., scored a career-high 30 points in a March 6 win over the Phoenix Suns, driving past Shaquille O’Neal to score the game-winning bucket in the Rockets’ 116-112 victory. With the shot clock running down for the Rockets, Yao Ming set a high screen for Brooks, who beat O'Neal to the basket with an underhanded layup with 7.3 seconds left.
The Rockets, without the services of superstar guard Tracy McGrady, have moved from seventh to third in the conference standings (fifth to third since the Alston trade on Feb. 20). Earlier this week they had even moved passed San Antonio for both first place in the Southwestern Division and second place overall in the Western Conference. But Tuesday’s road loss to the Utah Jazz (despite Brooks’ team-high 20 points) relegated Houston back to second in the division and third in the conference standings.
With nine games remaining, Brooks and the Rockets are in a battle as they jockey for playoff positioning. Of those nine games, five are against teams that are currently set to make the playoffs (at Los Angeles, vs. Portland, vs. Orlando, vs. New Orleans, at Dallas). That doesn’t include the game at Phoenix (currently ninth in Western Conference standings) on Wednesday, April 1, in a 7 p.m. (PT) game televised on ESPN.
For those who didn’t know...
Brooks wrapped up his career at Oregon as the 10th all-time leading scorer (1,511 points in 115 games, a starter in 110 contests). He is one of 29 players in school history to have ammassed 1,000 points or more. Brooks is one of 10 players who have reached the milestone under head coach Ernie Kent, and one of five players in the last three seasons (Malik Hairston, Tajuan Porter, Bryce Taylor, Maarty Leunen) to eclipse the figure under Kent’s direction.
In his senior season Brooks averaged 17.7 points per night and was named All-Pac-10 Conference. That year he led the conference in points per game, just the third Duck in the history of the program to lead the Pac-10 Conference in season-scoring average (along with: Anthony Taylor, 21.3 ppg in 1988; Terrell Brandon, 26.6 ppg in 1991).
Stan Love (20.8 ppg in 1970, 27.3 ppg in 1971), Ron Lee (19.2 ppg in 1974) and Greg Ballard (21.7 ppg in 1977) each took a turn leading the Pacific-8 Conference in season-scoring average. Laddie Gale (12.4 ppg in 1938, 11.6 ppg in 1939), John Dick (11.5 ppg in 1940), Vic Townsend (10.9 ppg in 1941), Bob Hamilton (10.7 ppg in 1944), Roger Wiley (14.7 ppg in 1949) and Jim Loscutoff (19.6 ppg in 1955) each led the Northern Division in points per game.
