No Roybot, Big Opportunity

So it's official that family-issues will keep Brandon Roy from participating in tonight's game at Detroit. It will certainly be hard for the Blazers to beat a top veteran squad like Detroit on the road without their Everything, but there is a bigger opportunity here.

Usually when teams focus on stopping Brandon Roy, its on the other Blazers to knock down the open shots such a strategy provides. Tonight there's no Roy, and a very good defense. This means a huge chance to learn how to operate without RoyBot's help. With an eye to the future, it would be very good for this team to get this figured out sooner rather than later. Sometimes Roy will be in foul-trouble, sometimes he'll be off, sometimes he'll be clamped down. In these situations it would help to have confidence and a plan in place. Seeing which individual players step up will be interesting, but I think the most important development is how the team as a whole responds and what they take away from the experience. Big game.

Speaking of Everything, he was recently interviewed at a local Shari's by ESPN (no expense spared for our hero!). That reminds me of a funny story. My Dad once ordered a salad there--delicious and nutritious--good choice. Until he pulled what he thought was an especially chewy piece of lettuce out of his mouth. Used bandaid.

Did I say funny? I meant disgusting. My bad. Maybe thats why Brandon doesn't touch his food.

UPDATE: Well, so much for that.

UPDATED UPDATE: Yeah, it was kinda like this:

Punishment from the Basketball Gods

Why no entries for a while? I've been sequestered in a cave somewhere in Oregon, with a basketball in one hand and a picture of Terry Porter in the other, in a trance-like state searching for answers.

Let me explain.

Remember how I wrote about how I can't seem to care about the Eastern Conference Playoffs? I genuinely felt bad about that feeling, like I was being a bad basketball fan. But it was the truth.

I admit, I was getting a little interested in the early Eastern Conference Finals. This is irrelevant, because I wasn't interested enough to prevent what would happen next. On May 31st, The Pistons and The Cavs played a little something called Game 5. I was watching from tip off until I remembered I was going to go play some basketball that night.

"I can miss this, even when its close how fun is it to watch NBA teams score in the 70's anyways?"

Peace out TV, the pickup game is callin!

Thats when the heavenly and just bodies that watch over basketball decided they'd had enough of my ways. Time to teach a lesson, Jack Brown will respect the game.

First of all, I didn't even get to play a real game. Not enough people showed up (they were appeasing the Gods by staying home and watching Game 5 I imagine), so we played a few rounds of 21 instead. Weak.

During this unholy act I was receiving text messages about what was going on, first came this:

"lebron takeover!"

Then,

"ot, lebron!"

And finally, when I knew I was being divinely punished,

"Cavs n 2ot, lebron 48"

I missed it. When I got home I was glued to the highlights. I woke up the next morning and had to read stuff like this all day long about where Lebron's performance fits on the all-time playoff moments list. Worse still, was the people asking me what I thought about the game.

I'm sorry. It will never happen again. I'm renewing my vows to the game. Never again. Lesson learned.

Lebron's last 25 points: