Tony Parker Teaches Aaron Brooks Tough Lesson: Will He Learn As Spurs Star Did?

Any discussion about the NBA's best point guards usually begins with Chris Paul and Deron Williams. It includes a slew of other names, from Chauncey Billups to Jason Kidd.

Aaron Brooks, the 22-year-old speedster the Rockets hope will one day join that group, was schooled Saturday night by one of the two players in that elite class with a championship ring.

Tony Parker has three of them. His Spurs won 88-85 and extended their Southwest Division lead to two and a half games.

Parker poured in a game-high 28 points, including 11 in the final period, to spark a Manu Ginobili-less San Antonio to a tough road win. He pick-and-rolled with Tim Duncan, sank tough jumpers and displayed the kind of cool and acumen under pressure that all great points guards must possess.

Earlier this decade, Parker finished on the wrong side of these close games, with many questioning his ability to run a championship-caliber squad. Brooks should take notes if he wants to validate management's decision to trade away Rafer Alston with playoff position on the line.

The Spurs had other options when Parker failed. In the early 2000s, Antonio Daniels' steady hand provided veteran relief. In the 2003 NBA Finals, Speedy Claxton closed out the series while Parker watched miserably from the bench. The Spurs could often turn to someone else to cover for the youngster's mistakes.

The Rockets cannot. It's Brooks or bust.

Brooks should take notes in these matchups because he can learn far more from Parker than he ever will from Paul or Williams.

Parker did not attend a prestigious university or play in a national championship game. He did not enter draft night on a mountain of hype.

No one on ESPN compared him to John Stockton, Oscar Robertson, or Magic Johnson. Few predicted he would ever become a championship level difference maker.

Even the organization that selected him in 2001 with the 27th pick had its doubts.

Gregg Popovich passed on Parker twice. Had R.C. Buford not protested so vehemently, the Spurs might have drafted someone else.

Popovich saw him then as most did. Here's this quick French kid with little professional experience who cannot finish a layup to save his life. He cannot shoot or pass with any reliability and his defense is atrocious.

The Spurs' coach has admitted in so many interviews since then that Parker also had something else—courage. Popovich liked that this kiddo who couldn't do much of anything on the NBA level but believed sincerely that with hard work he would do it all.

He immediately handed Parker the keys to Spurs offense and said, "Prove it."

Slowly but surely, with hundreds of tongue-lashings by Popovich serving as motivators, he did.

Brooks must know that many view his inexperience as a chief reason the Rockets might struggle to win even one playoff series. He must know that every time he turns over the ball or makes a bad decision in the fourth quarter of a big game, his skeptics are aching to give him a heavy dose of "I told you so."

GM Daryl Morey's decision to send Alston to the then-reeling Magic to get Kyle Lowry from Memphis and promote Brooks was controversial. In four testy years with the Rockets, Alston found a way to get the job done, ugly and uneven as it was.

Management tried to ship him out each of those four years but struggled to find a taker who would give back anything of value.

He arrived at the team's 2007 training camp, with four others eyeing his spot, and wiped the floor with them. Steve Francis, Mike James, Luther Head, and an unproven Brooks? He kicked all of them in the rear and stole back the spot.

Rick Adelman loved Alston's fight. He loved the way 10-year veteran responded to criticism.

Alston played every game at the Toyota Center knowing that most of the fans there, knowledgeable or not, wanted him gone. He knew most regarded him as the starting lineup's weakest link.

So, he bulked up when critics said he was too weak. He finished off dreadful 1-for-9 shooting nights with late three-pointers and established a low turnover floor game. He did just enough to keep his thin-ice position from melting.

The Rockets retained Alston because they could not harness anything better given limited cap space. If 11 of the 14 other West point guards were superior, the Rockets appreciated him because he was at least better than those final three.

Then, Brooks crashed Alston's not-so-crowded party, and the Rockets took the chance the Spurs did in 2001.

The Rockets orchestrated that deadline deal because they wanted to find out sooner before later if Brooks could be like Parker.

Alston's career 36 percent shooting was never going to change. Had he stayed on board, the Rockets would have valued his veteran presence but rued his woeful inconsistency.

At least with Brooks, there is upside and plenty of room to grow.

He produced a mixed-bag performance in the three-point loss Saturday. He delivered 18 points on 7-of-18 shooting and whizzed by defenders for several scintillating layups.

Brooks also gifted the game to the Spurs with a trio of crunch time mistakes.

With less than two minutes to go and the Spurs ahead by two, Brooks drove to the hoop with Duncan looming large. Perhaps he forgot the end result of this maneuver in a November loss. Duncan blocked that shot to seal a 77-75 victory.

Saturday, Duncan changed a similar look and then secured the rebound. Brooks might have been fouled on the play but should not have expected to get the call.

Instead, he should have noticed that Parker was guarding Ron Artest. Brooks missed the obvious mismatch, and the Rockets missed an opportunity for a critical score.

On the Rockets' next possession, he drove the lane again and failed to spot a wide-open Artest, who was screaming for the ball. Artest has been one of the league's best catch-and-shoot three-point marksmen in the last month.

With Duncan waiting at the rim again, Brooks' scoop missed badly. Brooks appeared to almost block his own shot underneath the basket.

Yao Ming, who scored 18 points efficiently, did not touch the ball on any of these crucial possessions. Does he need to wear a flashing, neon sign that reads, "I'm 7-6, give me the damn ball?"

Brooks forgot about his tallest teammate when it mattered most, and the Rockets paid dearly for it.

Yao threw in a jumphook over Duncan and slammed in a miss to cut the deficit to one.

The first lesson for Brooks in this loss: when your 7-6 center drops two buckets in a row to trim a once-big lead to one, you pass him the &%^*#@! ball on the next possession.

Yao leads the team in fourth quarter scoring. If his teammates dump off the ball, they know he will get them two points: either with a bucket or two foul shots.

Against the Charlotte Bobcats Friday night, he even came through with a clutch three-pointer.

The diminutive point guards know who should get the ball at critical junctures and where they should get it. They do not hesitate or question their decisions.

When Brooks attacks the rim with confidence, as he did against the Phoenix Suns two weeks ago, he scores. He lacked that poise against the Spurs.

In that Suns game, with the score tied, a Brooks drive off a pick-and-roll was the best option.

Brooks would be an All-Star if he faced a defenseless Steve Nash and 38-year-old Shaquille O' Neal every night.

Against the smarter and tougher Spurs, dishes to Yao and Artest were better choices in the final moments.

The Rockets hope he will learn to see these things with regularity. They hope his court vision will one day match his blinding foot speed.

How do you close out a contentious slugfest against a division rival?

Parker showed Brooks the way.

The Spurs' guard accounted for the team's last 17 points. He willed in a nifty layup after a Luis Scola foul. He executed a beautiful give-and-go with Duncan.

He cut to the basket and layed in a crisp Duncan feed. He drained two 19-footers. He swooshed all three of his free throws in the final minute and a half.

Parker controlled the game. His 13-point first half paced the Spurs to a seven-point lead at the break.

When the Spurs needed late baskets, Parker obliged.

The difference between Parker and Brooks might be best summarized in a post-game quote.

“I told [Duncan], ‘Take 15, 20 shots if you want to,'” Parker told the San Antonio Express-News. “He's the franchise. Nobody's going to say nothing.”

Brooks talked about playing through Yao and then failed to do it with his team on the ropes. Parker played through Duncan and then talked about it after his team won.

A point guard is best measured by his fourth-quarter performances. Do his teammates complain about not getting enough looks? Can he manufacture easy buckets for his teammates against an elite defense?

Several Rockets have a reason to gripe after this loss. Yao and Artest should wonder what the final score would have been had Brooks made the proper passes.

No one on the Spurs questioned Parker's decisions after the game.

Battier and Artest have clamored for Brooks to be louder and more decisive when he calls out plays. Everyone on the Spurs accepts that Parker will make the right decisions much more than he will poor ones.

Parker read the defense Saturday the way Brooks needs to read it.

It is impossible to know after just 12 games on the job if Brooks will ever be as good as Parker.

There were moments in this thrilling battle when Brooks looked every bit the part.

However, there were too many possessions where he looked inept and incapable of being more than a change-of-pace, reserve guard.

Parker knows the feeling.

The Rockets' brass should pray that Brooks took careful notes. How the team finishes its brutal rest of March and April schedule and how it performs in a playoff series will depend largely on Brooks ability to mature on the fly. He faces Chris Paul Monday night and Deron Williams in less than two weeks.

Not one-third of the way through the NBA's point guard school, the Rockets are asking Brooks to ace the final exam. They want to believe he's a quick study.

The Rockets face the Spurs one final time in San Antonio March 22.

Maybe somdeday—as soon as next Sunday or in a future playoff meeting—Brooks will show Parker what he's learned.