Newly acquired point guard Aaron Brooks will be in a Suns uniform for the first time to face against the Indiana Pacers tomorrow morning. The six-footer didn’t play on the Suns first game of this road trip last night in Toronto.
Brooks will bring a much needed scoring punch off the bench. Ever since Leandro Barbosa was traded during the offseason, the Suns bench has had issues at times putting the ball in the hoop at key stretches this season. Goran Dragic certainly wasn’t the lethal scorer that Brooks will be. The former Houston point averaged nearly 20 points per game last season when he started and he nearly single-handedly led the Rockets to a upset victory over the Lakers in the playoffs a few years back.
The team that Brooks will be facing, the Pacers, have been up and down throughout the year, but have played some good basketball during the month of February posting an 8-4 record. Indiana nearly pulled off a big trade before the deadline trying to acquire Rudy Gay at the trade deadline, but the deal came in too late to the league office.
Despite not having Gay’s services, Indiana has some talent to deal with. Danny Granger is one of the better scorers in the league averaging 21 points per game on the season. Darren Collison has taken a bit of a step back from last season when he was in New Orleans, but he can be a nuisance with his speed and ability to penetrate into the lane. Roy Hibbert has turned into a very productive player for Indy as well, essentially turning into a double-double guy.
Aside from the game in Boston, this could end up being the toughest test for the Suns on this trip. Indiana is playing good basketball and it is never easy to get up for an early game, especially when you play out west. The Suns will need to play as well as they did in Toronto in order to start this trip off 2-0.
Original Story:
http://www.sunszoo.com/2011/02/aaron-...
