Searching for Silver Lines

Here we are at the very end of the 09-10 season and Brandon Roy has a tear in his miniscus. Shit. We get all the way to game 79 of an 82 game season, and a muscle in his knee decides to be a bitch.

WHY!? Why are the Basketball God's so cruel this season. We had such a promising squad. Two seven footers at center. Another forward damn near seven feet tall. A log jam of shooters at the 2 and 3 positions. A mixture of you and vetran point guards. BRANDON F**KING ROY. We got the bad playoff beat out of the way and looked hungry for retrobution.

Before the season started, we learned last years rookie starting Small Forward, Nicolas Batum hurt his shoulder and was feared to be lost for the season (he came back in Febuary). Then Travis his foot. Then Oden's busts his knee cap (which I detailed in a December post). Then Rudy decided to get surgery on his shoulder which had been bothering him since March of the previous season (thank you, Trevor Ariza). Then Pryzbilla. It was like listening to a Larry the Cable Guy set; just the same shitty joke told and re told over and over again.

Then Rudy comes back, Travis looks like he will be coming back sooner then expected and our team starts to come together. Roy and Andre Miller seem to have had found an understanding on how they can play together. We were showing some potential.

Then down goes the captain. Roy hurts his hamstring and misses 14 of the next 15 games. He was supposed to heal quickly. He had an experimental operation done that was supposed to bring him back quickly. It did not. And the captain was forced into hybernation this winter.

By the time the Allstar break, the injury depleated Blazers had seen 6 rotational guys miss atleast 15 games due to injury (even coach Nate McMillan had an Achilies Tendon injury that forced him to miss games). That is not a typical formula for success in the NBA. Somehow, despite the injuries, the Blazers kept plugging along and stayed in the playoff seedings all year.

Some credit needs to be given to Kevin Pritchard. He didn't panic when the injuries happened. He kept cool and resisted the temptation of hitting the "red button" and blowing things up. Pritchard kept faith that the guys playing could hold their own while he continued to shop for the right deal.

He found the right deal, and on Febuary 17th, he pulled the trigger sending two fan favorites (Travis Outlaw and Steve Blake-both in contract years) to LA for Marcus Camby. Marcus, who apparently appreciated the chance to play in the Playoffs again (has been stuck in Clipperville for a few seasons) has rewarded the Blazers brass for the trade by posting averages of 7 points 11 rebounds and 2 blocks per game (not to mention leading us to a 17-6 record since joining the team). Of course he put an exclamation point on his current stay with the Blazers by droping a season high 30 points and leading us to a win against Oklahoma City locking up the 6th seed for us and giving us a chance to play the Suns instead of the Los Angles Lakers.

The potential for a post season run was there. A great mix of young/athletic and grizzled vetrans. The team was starving for playoff success and were clicking on all cylinders leading into the final month of the season and then the injury bug decides to strike again.

Game 79. In LA, playing the Lakers, and Roy's miniscus decides to tear. Not a bad injury, but no injury is a good injury with 2 and a half games to go untill the post season.

So now where are we? Well the media can't seem to make up their mind. First Brandon was going to play. Granted, not a 100% but he would still be able to contribute. It was also announced that though he was going to play, he would require surgery to repair the damage in the off season. This would require a 4 to 6 week recovery period. Again, not a bad injury.

A few days later it was announced that he was going to be out of the playoffs, take the surgery a few days before Game 1 against the Suns, and get ready for next season (shit). This is before he tested the knee or anything in a practice. They seemingly decided that our chance of winning a championship is better next year then this year, and told him "lets not risk further damage." I get that, better safe then sorry. It still sucks though.

Today, Roy went through surgery to repair his knee (I hope thats the last time I write that sentence). Post surgery, the doctors (as they do) came out and announced they had successfully cut open and fixed our franchies baller. They also let us know that the time table for recovery was now 1-2 weeks.

Wait...WHAT?!

Apparently that was the reason behind having the surgery now as opposed to after the season. So now if Portland is able to get past The Suns ( a team we match up well against, despite our missing Super Star) there is a chance Roy will be good to go. Good decision.

Whether Roy comes back and gives us the Hollywood ending or not (the Hollywood ending woudl be this: Roy comes back to be better then ever starting the second round, we bounce Dallas in the second round and prevail over heated rivals the LA Lakers in the Wester Conference Finals and win (or lose) the championship behind a half court buzzer beater), the one thing we can all agree on is this season is exhausting. Set back after set back this team has over come mountains of trials this season. They have looked adversity in the eye, and kicked it square in the balls.

They are not affraid of screwing up like last year, because expectations have long been thrown out the window. As sick as it sounds, the injuries have made us better. We know how to fight for wins. We know how to steal games we have no business winning, and that makes us better then last year.

It sucks that Oden is gone, that Pryz may never return. It sucks we had to trade Travis and Blake. It sucks that we had to settle for a six seed. But we're here, and thats what important. We have fought our way back into the playoffs. With or without Roy, we're gonna give the Suns hell. They should be worried, because we can still beat them.

Blazers in 5.