The Drubbing

NBA All Star game

From his days at University of Washington, battling in the Pac-10 with another NBA bound player Nate Robinson, you could always tell Brandon Roy was one of the better players on the court.  He played all 4 years at Washington, and caught my eye as being steady, a clutch shooter and a fun player to root for.  I continued watching him in the NBA, and was surprised this 4 year NCAA player, sure-thing All-Star dropped to the #6 spot, behind Sheldon Williams, Adam “Cry me a River” Morrison, and Ty Thomas.  So you skip a proven player for an undersized Forward who cannot shoot, a porn stach’ed player who cried before the game finished, and an uber-athletic forward who cannot drive, dribble or shoot?

Roy’s game on December 19th, will net him 52 points, and more respect not only around the league but to the fans who do not follow basketball as much.  Anyone who watched the game, noticed he scored his fair share of points, but because a lot of them were off Steve Blake dishes, transition, and in the flow of the offense, you did not realize how much he scored.  This was not like Kobe coming down and jacking up shot after ridiculous shot with 3 hands in his face, or one-on-one backdowns by Melo, or even 25 dribbles in a half court set like AI.  And that was the beauty of this game.  The Blazers won a close game, Roy played within the flow of the game, and just made the shots he was supposed to.  5 treys, 14-27 FGs and 19-21 FTs.

His coach Nate McMillan summed it up “It really felt like a quiet 52 points. He was just knocking down shots.  You almost expect him to do this night after night.”