Let me say that Brandon Roy is my favorite player. I think he will go down as the best player ever, in Blazer history. However, I'm confused to why he gets a free pass tonight? He turned the ball over 4 times in the 4th quarter, yet we freak on Blake for getting one turnover. We are going off that Travis missed an open three with 10 seconds left. Half the people here think our top notch coach is an idiot because he lost two road games by 4 points to the 2nd or 3rd best team in the western conference. Rudy got lit up by Von Wafer when he came in the game, but his defense is excused. I'm confused to why some people get a free pass and others do not.
Roy screwed up a few times, to be sure. But you have to measure his screw-ups versus his contributions--and the latter greatly outweight the former. Look at his stat line: 31 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 blocked shots. Nobody made a bigger contribution tonight than Roy.
And I totally agree. Roy is our best player and we wouldn't be in any games without him. However, down the stretch, his 4 turnovers hurt us as much as anyone. It appears people are willing to forget about all the close games we've won under Nate, or all the game winners hit by Outlaw in the past, so I figured if we are only going to take a snapshot of the 4th quarter, Roy should take as much blame as any. I'm not one to sit here and blame people, because I realize Houston is a great team, with an unstoppable center, and an equally as good of a coach, to go with two premier defenders and a lot more playoff experience. I don't think there is any shame in losing to Houston, but other people here are jumping off cliffs, so it just made me wonder why Roy and Rudy get a total free pass around here.
roy really needs to pick up his intensity on the defensive end. that's where he gets the biggest pass. outlaw and blake are horrible defenders, and everybody jumps on the, rightfully so. but roy is only marginally better for 95% of the game, and then he'll make a nice defensive play to make you forget about the rest of the game.
At least with Roy's last turnover, he tried to make something happen and was aggressive doing it -- instead of some dumbass play by coughing up the ball on the break like Blake again. But I believe Battier was Roy's man when he went off for those 2 key threes. Those were the daggers emotionally more than anything else.
this is laughable tince. roy is the only reason we were in the game to begin with, and thats not even counting game 2 where he and LA were the only two to show up. yea he made some mistakes but his mistakes were being too aggresive, while blake/outlaw/nates where more mental mistakes.
I think you missed my point. People are using small sample sizes to make much greater accusations. We say Blake was horrible tonight because he made one bad turnover in the 4th, but Roy gets a free pass when he makes 4 in the final period. If you read the entire thread, you would know that I'm not blaming Roy for the loss.
but blake hasn't really been effective this entire series, so when he makes boneheaded plays it adds to the level of frustration and you can add outlaw to that mix as well. i also don't think it is just about the small sample size, these concerns are ones that have been brought up about these two for much of the season. but everything is amplified in the postseason and the hand wringing is that much more.
I'm not concerned about his turnovers so much as how frequently he let his man roam free on the perimeter for open jumpers. I guess that's the price you pay when you decide to double down on Yao, but a lot of the time it looked like Roy just lost his man.
Nobody has said a word about LMA tonight either... or Batum, or Blake etc etc etc If you're expecting perfection you're never going to get it. (not you the poster... the in general "you") Let's stick to bashing Outlaw tonight. WHAT A JERK Anyway IMO it's weird to ask "why aren't we getting all over Brandon" tonight Because 90% of the time he's fucking awesome is the answer. You can either choose to look at that 90% or the 10%. (not you the poster... the in general "you")
I was under the impression the reason Portland has lost the last two games was a lack of aggression. Now Roy is being too aggressive? He is fucked either way, seems to me. Shoot a jumper, you are not going to the hole. Attack the rim, get the offensive foul for a turnover and you aren't playing "smart basketball". Not sure how the guy can win.
Is that right? Ouch. I didn't realize Roy had Battier on those two possessions. I wonder what he was thinking??
I have to say I found myself thinking the same thing - particularly because Rudy was so often open on his right when he drove into a crowd. He's great, but him trying for a layup every time is playing into the Rockets' game plan perfectly. Maybe if he actually played with a PG who could create, this wouldn't be an issue. (There, I managed to turn it back on to Blake. That's posting JuJitsu.)
It's one thing being agressive. Quite another when you're talking about taking it in against 4 guys waiting for you....which happened on more than one occasion in crunch time. I kept thinking to myself, "Trust your teammates, Brandon. Trust your teammates." That said, Nate needs to continue to find more time for Rudy.
Trust has to be earned. In this playoffs series I've seen precious few people willing/able to step up and take the big shot (with the exception of Rudy). Bottom line: Roy has been balling out of his ass considering the kind of defense he's up against and few people have shown an ability to step their level of play and give this team a reliable second or third option. In constrast, the Rockets bench and third option type of guys have been huge for them. Take your pick, Wafer, Landry, Scola, Lowry, Battier, etc. have all stepped up their focus and shown an ability to hit the big shot.
I saw more than a couple of times where Roy employed drive-and-dish strategies to Pryz, LMA, and Blake. I also saw guys just "watching" Roy work, as well.......something that had been discussed by Nate. I'm not necessarily putting this all on Roy, but I do think he put a bit too much on himself - late - last night.
