It's nice to have a true go-to guy. As much as I liked Rasheed Wallace, the turn-of-the-millenium Blazers team really didn't have one.
[video=youtube;EbamQy6wfo0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbamQy6wfo0&feature=channel_page[/video] Only 3rd for NBA.com
Here's the Roy game-winner, with home town call: <object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WbSe6eeOzVU&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WbSe6eeOzVU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object>
Completely agree, WTF a Butler jumper is ahead of Roy's winner? And Wade's dunk wasn't anything that great
Roy's buzzer beater was definitely better. With Roy's shot, it was either make the shot or lose the game. Butler's shot was make the shot or go to overtime.
I sense some bad feelings between Roy and Rudy, mostly from Roy's side towards Rudy. Maybe it's just the way that last video was cut off but I've also seen it several times during games. Sometimes, Roy doesn't pass to Rudy when he's wide-open and instead of a 50% chance of a 3 going in (when Rudy is free he usually nails it) the offense gets stuck and often it results in a turnover. There been times when it was really obvious, like "yeah, I can give you the ball, but it's MY team" and I don't like it. At first, I though Roy is trying to get into Rudy's head in a good way, maybe urge him to do more than just stand behind the arc, maybe more like "you can do better than this and then I'll give you the ball" but lately, it just seems personal. One of the biggest things I always loved about Roy was his unselfishness. He's the best on our team in directing the offense, better than Blake, Rudy, Bayless and even Sergio. I don't want him to inject ego-issues into his decision making and if this trend continue, we may have to show him the way out.
Wow, I think that is just in your mind. That's so anti Roy. Though how Rudy has been playing I wouldn't blame him for not passing to him. He hasn't been hitting open 3s at a 50% rate since early in the season if then. Also if any one was shown the way out it would be Rudy, not Roy. That's unbelievable! Ya, lets get rid of our lone allstar.
Plus, Butler's shot was very bad team beats bad team as opposed to Western play-off team beats Eastern play-off contender. The NBA.com people are a joke.
This is sort of a damned-if-he-does but damned-if-he-doesn't kind of thing. Roy deferred to several players at UW, including Nate Robinson. He's been an effective scorer but a distributor, too, in his first couple of years. Very few players--and almost no shooting guards--are capable of be great without having a killer attitude on offense. Very few superstars don't want to take the last shot or get to the hoop and score or draw a foul when the team really needs points. Roy is becoming--or has become--an alpha player. It's his team. He'll shoot when he can and when he thinks it's best for the team. I don't see this as a negative, and I don't see it as some sort of run-away ego. I just see it as an evolution of a player taking a step from lottery pick to all-star to potential all-NBA level. Do I wish he'd pass to Oden more? Absolutely. Do I think he's smart enough to be willing to when Oden (or Rudy, or whomever) is a better player? Totally. Ed O.
I agree that Roy has become our alpha-player, I'm even willing to suffer through some frustrating Roy-first moves when he's trying to re-assert himself, in order to make the other team's defense worry about him but it HAS to be for the benefit of the team. You rarely need your alpha-player to score 52 in order to win, that was true against PHX and it could be true once, maybe twice a year... What makes an alpha-player a good alpha-player (every alpha-player is a good player) is the ability to make his teammates better, this is what brings championship. Roy has that ability basketball-wise but he must find a way to leave personal-issues off the court. You know what, I don't even want him to think "Oh, It's Rudy that's open, he's a good shooter I'll pass it to him" I want him to be totally player-blind in that regard. You see a red&black jersey open on the 3-point line, you pass to him, doesn't matter if it's Rudy or Outlaw or even Bayless, when you do that regularly, play smart, play right and play team, you end up winning, you don't make every shot but you usually win.
