I know about the back, but I thought Roy looked awful tonight. His stats were fine, but it reminded me of the Z-bo days. When he was in the game, he was slow setting up the offense, constantly looking for his shot first. He missed LMA wide open several times. When Roy was out, other combinations moved much better and caused problems for the heat. Weird game. I found myself saying things I don't normally think: 1) Don't give Oden the ball in the post!!! (don't force it in) 2) Please keep Roy on the bench. I hope he looks better when his back is better, but if not, Nate needs to work on his ball movement.
I thought he looked better than the Houston game. He almost cost us that game by taking every shot late in regulation. He made the 2 biggest shots when they counted in that game and they won this one too...so all is forgiven. The starters can be boring to watch but rarely the bench.
He was fine considering he wouldn't have even played if the game was yesterday. He had that one key bucket when he posted up Wade, and took him to school. I don't think you have to worry about Roy looking "bad" too often..
Roy should never be the PG. He's a deadly SG, but not a great playmaker or communicator on the court. It's the weakest part of his game, and the weakest part of the Blazers game.
He looked fine. No worries. Obviously the injury was kind of hampering him, but he did fine overall. Plus, he only took 13 shots. (Lots of FTs though)
22 points on 13 attempts is a bad game? You must've thought Aldridge and Outlaw had the worst performance in the history of the NBA, because they only had 2 more points on 17 more attempts. Brandon Roy had a very solid game, especially for having a sore back. If you're disappointed with his play, you need to reevaluate you expectations.
It was not his finest performance, but unless Roy can't walk, I have a hard time imagining myself to ever utter those words down the stretch. In my opinion, he's earned the right to be in at clutch time with his countless big shots, many of which he did on the same night he had a bad game. He's clutch, and he's still the leader of the team. I'll just forget the Z-bo comment... I don't want to get upset.
Man, this is a perfect example of a fan being spoiled by a little success. The guy was a game-time decision right up until tip-off due to back spasms and he made some great shots, lots of nice moves to the basket and ended up with a pretty decent stat line by anyone's standards . . . and you got people saying he looks "awful"??? WTF?
Love this quote from Roy tonight: "We are starting to be the same team every night. I think our identity is starting to come out, and that is playing together, never quitting and, when adversity hits, we are always huddling up, saying, 'We're good, we're good. We're down two? Hey, we're goooood.' And we're not just saying it. We believe it. It's a confidence." Brandon Roy http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2008/11/blazers_rewind.html
Any player with a stiff back that drops only 22 and looks bad to you is a great player. You can see that Roy is no longer willing to defer to Wade or anyone. That's great.
Roy has said that he has to be more assertive during the fourth and I think he's just in that in between zone of learning how to be assertive by shooting and assertive like Wade/LeBron is right now. Just a learning curve.
Quoted for truth. Roy is the only player on this roster who can not only consistently create his own shot, but can also handle the ball well enough when he drives and finishes in traffic that he frequently draws a foul even if the shot doesn't go down (now that he's earned some respect from the officials). I thought he looked "OK" for Roy, but then when I sit back and think about that, it tells me just how damn good he is and how much we've come to expect him to be nearly flawless. No Roy playing "OK" tonight, then no win.
Roy looked really good to me. Roy and Rudy were the best players on the team tonight, after Aldridge's early great start (after which he became more of a ghost presence). Roy is the player I most want to have the ball...I believe he not only has the talent to do good things but the intelligence to do the right thing. The player who surprised me the most, pleasantly, was Sergio. He was under control yet aggressive...he really looked the part of a true point guard: pushing the action, finding people with great passes and even making a few nice shots. Nights like this, if you squint, you can almost see a poor man's Jason Kidd out of Sergio.
Let's face it - going forward, if Roy doesn't make a miracle shot with less than a second left to win the game, he's awful. It's his own damned fault for setting his own bar too damned high. He has obviously not worked in corporate America so he doesn't fellow the mantra of "under promise, over deliver"
Though it seemed like he was in the entire 4th quarter, Sergio "only" had 18 minutes. And I thought he played very well. 5 pts on 2/2 shooting, 5 assists, 1 TO and "Decent", though not "Good" D. And I thought it was a smart move to bring in Blake for the last minute, if for no other reason than FT shooting purposes. Oh yeah, and I don't like Roy handling the ball when being pressed by a tough defender late. Artest stripped him for a couple of turnovers, and Wade did tonight. At those times, he really needs to let Sergio bring it up and find some space. But Sergio/Rudy/Roy/Outlaw is a decent 4 to have on the court during the majority of the 4th. Normally LMA would be in there, but I honestly wouldn't have a problem if Oden (when normal) or Przy was in there. It's those times when Sergio's ballhandling is most helpful (he IS the best ballhandler on the team) and having he and Rudy with Roy almost guarantees no late-game slumps. But it's imperative that Outlaw and whoever the 5 is crashes the boards, and lets the guards get back to defend. Roy can get his shot off against a lot of people, but when he's really being pressured away from the hoop this season, he's been uncharacteristically careless with the ball. (33rd in the league in most TOpg, 10th among SGs). But color me into the category of "warrior playing studly while hurt" for Roy tonight. Dunno what was up with LMA, but if LMA and Travis are bad, it takes Roy and Rudy being awesome for us to win. Good problem to have.
I looked to me like the teams best runs were with Roy off the court. I could be wrong. It also looked like the team was getting better, more open shots with Roy off the court. I think I'm starting to agree about Roy not being a PG. He has some of the skills, but not really.
Sergio played AWESOME! But he isn't very effective past the halfway point of the 4th qtr because Roy starts taking the ball in his hands most of the time and when Sergio is playing off the ball, he isn't as effective as say Blake would be. He played a great game. He has an awesome future in this league... he is just 22.
