Blazers vs Utah: Mandatory Recap

Nice stats and some victories will get you Player of the Week. Tonight Roy's 16, 3, and 3 won't register a blip on the national radar, but illustrate exactly why his value far exceeds that of any weekly award. For better or worse these Blazers play like a family, and Roy is the backbone, the provider.

LaMarcus out of with plantar fasciitis, the Utah defense was intent on suffocating Roy all night. Brandon was perfectly content, allowing his teammates to feast on an unusual bounty of wide open jumpers. In 2005, Martell Webster got drafted after a mesmerizing pre-draft workout with the team. The Jazz might as well have been those chairs and cones he took to school on that fateful day as he dropped a career high 25. Travis Outlaw again contributed at a rate that ESPN will soon have to stop calling him "Tracy" in his highlights and take down the infamous picture of Bo that graces his player profile. Thanks to an accompanying flurried perimeter zone defense backed by Pryzbilla at his most gangster, Portland utterly dominated the first 2 and a half quarters of this game. Jazz fans booed their team, and had the salt rubbed in when an overweight second grader in a Brandon Roy jersey would not stop doing the robot all over his courtside seat.

When Utah got energized and mounted the inevitable NBA comeback, Roy shook off the beatings and got the most difficult and critical points of the game. We've seen this so many times before. Last season, before most of us knew LaMarcus could shine like he is doing, before Portland landed the number one pick, Roy sparked hope of a brighter future for this franchise.

Whatever embarassment of riches this team comes to be, Roy will always be at the head. He's the one most likely to end up in bronze outside the arena. The best part of a game like tonight? Knowing that we will be given many more like it.

Box Score