Brandon Roy played just eight minutes off the bench in the Portland Trail Blazers' Game 2 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, and failed to score, grab a rebound or deal an assist in that time. He sat for final 10 minutes of the game despite playing the entire fourth quarter of Game 1. After the game, he told Jason Quick of The Oregonian how frustrated he was in the course of the (in)action.
"There was a point in the first half, and I was thinking 'You better not cry,''' Roy said. "I mean, serious. I mean, there was a moment where I felt really sorry for myself. Then I was like, nah, you can't be sorry for yourself. I'm a grown man. [...]
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little hurt, or disappointed,'' Roy said. "But the biggest thing is to keep moving, to try and keep my spirits up. But it's tough man. I just ... I just always thought I would be treated better."
Roy and Blazers coach Nate McMillan have had a close relationship over the years; if anything Portland struggles to get Roy and Andre Miller on the same page offensively proved McMillan's loyalty to B-Roy, given that the coach and Miller ended up arguing most frequently.
But circumstances have changed, and Ben Golliver of our Blazer's Edge thinks Roy is being somewhat unreasonable.
When Roy says his struggles are purely mental, he's either kidding himself or he hasn't fully come to terms with his current abilities. Scouts, former players, media observers and fans see a player whose quickness and power off the dribble have disappeared, a player whose ball fake and dribble combinations no longer mesmerize, a player whose lift is gone, a player who has been a defensive liability -- slow laterally, slow to rotate, slow to close out -- for the entire season, and a player whose confidence is clearly shaken.
Given Portland's 0-2 deficit, the geographic shift of the series to the Pacific Northwest and the high-profile nature of Roy, expect this to get louder in the next couple days.
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