Cool and collected on the floor, with a touch of flash, former University of Washington standout and Seattle native Brandon Roy always had a gift of making clutch plays in the waning moments of games when his team needed him most.
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise in his second season in the NBA that Roy is doing the same thing for the Portland Trail Blazers.
Right?
Well, maybe. But few expected Roy to be doing so much so soon. In the midst of a jaw-dropping, 10-game winning streak that has Blazermania back in full force in the Rose City, Roy is the straw stirring the drink for a Blazers team playing with great team chemistry.
The reigning NBA rookie of the year, Roy has earned consecutive Western Conference Player of the Week honors — the only other Trail Blazer to accomplish that feat was Clyde Drexler 20 years ago.
During Portland’s winning streak, Roy has averaged 23.6 points, 6.8 assists, 5.5 rebounds in 38.6 minutes a contest while shooting 49.7 percent from the floor.
But as usual, the soft-spoken Roy deflects the attention and heaps praise on his teammates.
“We’re playing great basketball right now,” Roy said. “There’s times when I come out of the game and the score is tied, and I come back in and we’re up eight or nine points and all we have to do is try to maintain the lead.
“That’s a sign of a young team maturing. We’re deeper than most people expect. We have a total team here. Because they are giving me conference player of the week, that’s great. But I think that’s a team award for me.”
Roy’s play has another familiar name from these parts — ex-Sonics coach and current Portland coach Nate McMillan — singing Roy’s praises.
“Brandon Roy is as calm as they come,” McMillan said. “He’s had a solid month for us. Down the stretch we’re putting the ball in his hands and he’s making good decisions with that ball. And for the team when they see a guy like that poised and under control and calm down the stretch, I think it calms everyone else down.”
In his third year of rebuilding the Blazers, McMillan is ahead of schedule, with the Trail Blazers currently in second in the Northwest Division — a game ahead of the Utah Jazz and in the playoff hunt. The Jazz advanced to the Western Conference finals last year. And McMillan is doing it with the third-youngest team in NBA history according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Roy’s college coach, Washington head man Lorenzo Romar, said he expected Roy to play at a high level this season.
“He’s playing like an all-star, which is no surprise to us,” Romar said. “When we saw him in August playing against our guys, scrimmaging, this is what I thought would happen. I told the Trail Blazers, and they said ‘We agree.’ They thought he might be one of the top 15 players in the league.”
The Seattle SuperSonics (8-19) will try to slow down Roy and the Trail Blazers (15-12) today in a Christmas Day matchup. The game was supposed to pit the top two picks in the 2007 NBA draft in Portland’s Greg Oden and Seattle’s Kevin Durant. But with Oden out for the year after undergoing season-ending microfracture right knee surgery and the Sonics playing up and down this season, Portland’s winning streak has taken center stage.
However, history is not in Seattle’s favor, as the Sonics are 0-10 on Christmas.
Seattle’s Damien Wilkins watched Roy play while he was at Washington, and will match up with Portland’s go-to-guy to begin the game.
“He makes that team go,” Wilkins said. “He makes that entire team better. He’s a very aggressive player and I love watching him play, but now I have to go guard him so I’m not a fan (today)”
Roy’s play has people in Portland so pumped up he’s starting to hear chants usually reserved for players such as Kobe Bryant and LeBron James — “MVP!”
Roy said the first time he heard the rumbling from the rafters of the Rose Garden he was at the free-throw line and it caught him of guard — so much so that he missed the free throw. But if the 6-foot-6 guard continues to play like he has during the streak, he better get used to it.
“I just thought it was amazing to be in my second year and for fans to be chanting that,” Roy said. “I mean it’s great, and it just shows how much our fans appreciate us. I was excited that they did it, but I just hope they don’t do it too many more times late in the game when I have to make some tough free throws.”
The News Tribune reporter Don Ruiz contributed to this report.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
