Portland look to block Suns in play-offs.
What should have been a great series now looks like it will be a one-sided affair following the announcement that Portland Trailblazers shooting guard Brandon Roy will undergo surgery on Friday.
The Phoenix Suns have surprised everyone this year and following their great start to the season continued proved the doubters wrong by continuing to play well and in the end take the No.3 seed in the Western Conference.
Facing Portland is the best match-up for the Suns, no disrespect to the Trailblazers, but the amount of injuries they’ve suffered this season, and now with Roy going down the outlook isn’t good.
Centres Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla both sustained injuries that required season-ending surgery. Forward Nicolas Batum missed the first half of the season after shoulder surgery, and swingman Rudy Fernandez had midseason back troubles.
Roy’s surgery on Friday was to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee and he will be out for up to six weeks, not enough time to come back until the NBA finals.
In all, 13 Blazers missed a combined 311 regular-season games because of injuries and in the play-offs against the Suns, who like to play a high tempo game, that stat could come back to haunt them. The players who are coming back from injuries should be fresh physically but will be off match pace and their teammates who had to pick up the slack for the injured players will be feeling fatigued, it’s not a good mix.
Despite all the injuries it will be Roy who will be missed the most and the decision to undergo surgery wasn’t taken lightly.
"This was not an easy decision to make, but, if I'm going to be out there, I want to be contributing. If we're fortunate enough to advance in the playoffs, having the surgery now gives me the best opportunity to help our team,” Roy said in a statement.
However, with all the injuries the Trailblazers managed to still win 50 games, albeit with Roy leading the team. The onus will now fall to point guard Andre Miller to lead Portland and he will need to be standout performer. He will have to team up with Marcus Camby and LaMarcus Aldridge if the Trailblazers stand any chance of progressing.
And that chance of progressing on paper looks slim. Suns point guard Steve Nash and power forward Amar’e Stoudemire have formed the best pick and roll in the NBA, something Portland might be powerless to stop. Between them Nash and Stoudemire combined for 39.6 points a game and it will be those two who Portland will have to try and stop.
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