Blazers win behind career high 52 from Brandon Roy

Since 1984, the Portland TrailBlazers have been known as the low water mark in bad draft decision makers owing to their selection of Sam Bowie with the #2 pick in that year’s NBA draft over a young shooting guard from North Carolina named Michael Jordan, who went at #3.  They certainly had some good draft karma coming their way, and with each passing week the team’s 2006 draft day acquisition of Brandon Roy from Minnesota in exchange for Randy Foye may be their redemption for passing up on Jordan a generation ago.

Like so much “conventional wisdom”, the reality isn’t necessarily as cut and dried as most people think.  In 1984, the Blazers already had a future Hall of Famer at shooting guard in the person of Clyde Drexler.  Until Jordan started compiling his fistful of NBA title in the early 1990’s, many considered Drexler—and not MJ—to be the best shooting guard in the league.   With Bowie, the Blazers simply chose the best player available to fill their most pressing need.  Hindsight is 20/20, but the choice of Bowie made perfect sense at the time.

In Minnesota’s defense, Randy Foye will very likely be a solid contributor—perhaps an All Star level player—for years to come.  That may not be much consolidation to Timberwolves fans, however, as they watch Brandon Roy blossom into a potential hall of famer.  What’s particularly amazing about Roy isn’t his skills—there are plenty of guys with equal or greater intrinsic talent in the NBA—but how quickly he’s matured into a complete player and team leader.  The maturity, poise and floor generalship he demonstrates for a third year player is nearly unprecedented.  He’s also got the rare quality of doing what it takes to win on a given night—whether that’s getting his teammates involved, or taking over the game himself.

The latest chapter of Roy’s ascension to NBA superstar involves the latter—on Thursday night in Portland he almost single handedly led the Blazers to a 124-119 comeback victory over the Phoenix Suns.  The win snapped an eleven game Phoenix winning streak in the series, and Portland improved to 17-10 overall and 9-2 at the Rose Garden Arena.   Roy’s contribution to the victory?  52 points, 6 assists 5 rebounds and a blocked shot. 

Down 66-59 at halftime, the Blazers turned things around with a 39-27 third quarter advantage.  Steve Blake added 22 points, LaMarcus Aldridge contributed 16 and Travis Outlaw scored 14 off the bench.  After the game, Roy stated the obvious:

"I think this is by far the best offensive game I've had. I can't say the basket was big, but my confidence was huge tonight. I just felt like every shot I took was going to go in."

Blazers’ coach Nate McMillan praised his superstar’s career best effort:

"It really felt like a quiet 52 points. He was just knocking down shots. You almost expect him to do this night after night."

Asked about the Rose Garden crowd’s chants of “M-V-P” in the fourth quarter, Roy displayed perhaps his most impressive attribute—his commitment to the overall team concept. A lot of players give it “lip service”, but Roy really means it:

"My No. 1 goal is to win. Not to be the MVP. Not to be the All-Star”

Shaquille O’Neal was more disappointed with his team’s performance than impressed with Roy’s:

"We gave another game away. We're not getting loose balls, and you can't have 16 turnovers. And you've got to stop somebody. You can't let a guy go for 52. It was not acceptable."

The Suns lost their fourth straight on the road to drop to 15-11 overall.  They’ll return to Arizona for a game against Denver on Saturday before playing San Antonio on Christmas Day.  Portland is off until Monday when they’ll travel to Denver for the first game of a “home and home” series with the Nuggets.  The teams will rematch in Portland on Tuesday night before the Blazers host Dallas on Christmas night.