Roy Refuses to Lose

Though we lost a game we gave away in Utah two nights ago (thanks Adam for rubbing it in) revenge was ours vs Clyde's current place of residence, Houston.

If you didn't stay up until mid-night to watch the end of overtime you missed an instant classic. The Rockets are really quite the team I will give it to them (yes Greg Rose that shout out was for you). Of course they have T-Mac the only player who is hurt more than Yao. Artest was a great pick up for them, Aaron Brooks and skip-to-my-lou are tough in the back court. Then you have Battier and Barry who are automatic from deep. This could be the year they get out of the first round. And of course the second my winning coach in Blazer history, Rick Adelman.

The game: Basically the Blazers had a 3 point lead throughout the entire game. Then in the 4th quarter we got it up to a 10 point lead. Then we stunk it up from everywhere and turned the ball over. You could say our youth showed a bit.

"Call it divine intervention. On a night the Blazers honored the late Kevin Duckworth, Brandon Roy's prayer of a shot with 0.8 seconds remaining handed Portland a 101-99 overtime win that capped off one of the best finishes you'll ever see.

"Big Duck was looking down on us," said Blazers coach Nate McMillan. "He didn't want us to lose on his night."

"I was so disappointed that I fouled [Yao] on the last play," said Roy. "I told the group whatever you do, give me the ball and I'm gonna try to make the shot. We always talk in practice that with 0.8 you can catch and shoot. You still can get a shot."

The game-winner was perhaps even more impressive. Roy caught the ball out high near the left sideline, with his back to the basket and sprinting away from the goal. He stopped all his momentum with a jump stop, rose straight up vertically, and cleanly launched the victorious shot; somehow, a mix-up between Artest and Tracy McGrady had left him open without the benefit of a screen.

"It was just a hell of a shot." said McGrady about Roy's GW.

The Blazers can't breathe easy quite yet -- not with six of their next eight games on the road -- but they're feeling a lot better about their situation now than they were with 0.8 seconds left.

Only 16 points is unacceptable in the 4th quarter, especially considering we scored over 30 in every other quarter and almost 16 in overtime!

Go Rip City!