Fastbreak: Aaron Brooks Continues Strong Play
Aaron Brooks continues strong play
Wednesday, May 6, 12:30 p.m. PT
In late March we took a quick look at Aaron Brooks and the Houston Rockets who were tearing up the NBA. Now about a month and a half later, Houston is still one of the hottest teams in the league, currently a game up on the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Semifinals.
Brooks, with a little help from Yao Ming and Ron Artest, led the Rockets to a 100-92 Game 1 win over the Lakers at the Staples Center. With that win, Houston stole home-court advantage away from one of the favorites to win the league championship. Lakers head coach Phil Jackson saw Brooks as a factor for the Rockets' success.
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Brooks had 19 points while playing 36 clutch minutes on Monday night. The 6-0 guard from Seattle, Wash., had one of the highlights of the night when he crossed-over veteran guard Derek Fisher on a blow-by drive and lay-up.
First Brooks crossed-over Fisher, then he breezed by help defender Lamar Odom, before finishing at the rim over Pao Gasol. That play was featured in all of the highlight packages, and a day later Brooks and that lightning-quick drive received mention on ESPN’s afternoon programming: Jim Rome is Burning and Around the Horn. He was also spotlighted on NBA TV’s game analysis by Eric Snow and Andre Aldridge.
From the looks of things, Brooks is making himself a home in Houston. The Rockets and the Lakers continue their second-round series Wednesday night with a 7:30 p.m. (PT) Game 2 match-up televised nationally on TNT.
Brooks was also instrumental in Houston’s 4-2 first-round triumph over the Portland Trail Blazers, where he averaged 15.3 points and 4.3 assists per game. AB made 13-of-29 attempts from behind the 3-point arc (45 percent), while maintaining a 3.7 assist to turnover ratio.
Brooks opened the series with a 27-point, seven-assist, four-rebound performance in a 108-81 road win at the Rose Garden.
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He followed that up with 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting (4-of-5 on 3-pointers) in a Game 2 loss to the Blazers.
Brooks at Oregon...
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 amassed 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).
