The Official Site of Brandon Roy

Fri, Apr 30th 2010, 10:38

Blazers fall to Suns in 6

A fan in Section 113, holding up a large white sign, summed up the hopes of Rip City on Thursday night at the Rose Garden:

7 Our Lucky Number.

But that luck ran out Thursday night during the Trail Blazers’ 99-90 loss to the Phoenix Suns as lucky No.7 — Brandon Roy — finally ran out of magic and the Blazers finally ran into an obstacle they could not overcome.

As the obituary of the Blazers’ opening round playoff series loss to the Suns gets drawn up and debated in the days ahead, part of the conversation will no doubt turn to Roy’s final two games. Should Roy have played? And did he ultimately help the Blazers?

In a gutsy performance that further cemented his warrior reputation, Roy’s stunning return just eight days after knee surgery no doubt inspired a sellout Rose Garden crowd and provided an emotional boost in Game 4 that allowed the Blazers to stretch their first-round playoff series to six games.

But his subpar play in Games 5 and 6 raised doubt about how much he truly helped his team. Roy’s combined statistics in the final two games (19 points, six rebounds, five assists) read like an average Roy performance when he’s healthy. His shooting numbers in those games (6 of 23, 1 of 10 from three-point range) were not pretty.

“He struggled to get his rhythm,” Blazers coach Nate McMillan said. “He wasn’t able to move like he normally does.”

Roy lacked his usual explosiveness and athleticism, clearing feeling the effects of surgery to repair a partially torn meniscus in his right knee, and had difficulty creating scoring opportunities for himself. It didn’t help that he was blanketed by Phoenix double teams — particularly in the first quarter. As the Suns built a 24-17 lead in the first, Roy played all 12 minutes and scored zero points.

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