Post-Game: Blazers at Suns, Game 4

What was that sound mid-way through the first quarter? No, it wasn't the whole of Arizona crapping their pants. No, it wasn't the Rose Garden exploding. It was Ch-ch-ch-ka-ka-ka. In Friday the 13th, everyone thought thought Jason would be finished after getting an axe to his head (or a torn meniscus), but yet again, some teenagers needed some killing, so you know what happens. Brandon Roy operates under the same principle (well, substitute "killing teenagers" to "giving grown men chills"). The Blazers were down 7 and Phoenix looked to be doing the same thing that they did in Games 3 and 4, simply running away with the game. Then Brandon stood up. Just having him exist in uniform near a court changed everything.

The game swung immediately back towards the Blazers, in just about every way. The pace got slowed down. Suns fast break baskets evaporated. Rebound became plentiful. Now, all of this can't be pinned on Roy's play (he scored ten points in 20 minutes), but it can be pinned on what his play represented. It fundamentally changed everything. The Blazers have hope again, and they're overflowing with it.

LaMarcus Aldridge, that happy second banana, showed up for the first time this series on Saturday. With Brandon Roy back, he was able to finally take a breath and make some good decisions. I only counted once that he held onto the ball as a double team came. Beyond that, he carried the team through the first and fourth quarters, just drilling jumpers all over the field. This was the best playoff game of Aldridge's short career.

Andre Miller wasn't the factor he was before during the Game 1 win, but you'll be hard-pressed to find a moment where he really screwed up. Shooting 4-13 isn't so hot, but when all those shots come in the flow of the offense, you can't really complain.

Nicolas Batum is showing as much heart and grit as anybody (and with Brandon on the floor, that's saying something). He's had to leave two games this series with soreness in his shoulder, yet he still goes. Is there any reason why the Blazers shouldn't just lock him up for the rest of his career right now? He's the ultimate hustle player, he has ice in his veins, he plays amazing defense, and his arms can span the Fremont Bridge. He also put up 10 points and 7 rebounds. Also, he shoved Amare, which was completely justified. Here's the deal with injuries in basketball. In a game, you should absolutely attack a player with an injury on defense. Make him move, go toward his bad side. That's fair game and part of the danger of putting an injured player on the floor. However, when you start hitting the guy in the injury during stoppages, you're just being a prick. In boxing, you can't even hit someone during a play stoppage. Amare is a prick. He's Kevin Garnett with better knees and less skill.

Mar-Cus Cam-By did the job he needed to do. Sure, it didn't stand out like that OKC game (who knows if he'll have another one of those), but he hit some big jumpers, and simply cleaned the glass and tipped out like we know he can. Basically, an aggressive LaMarcus severely limits Camby's rebounding opportunities in the best kind of way.

Jerryd Bayless showed the mean streak that the Blazers need, committing a hard foul on Richardson (It was called a flagrant, but, along with Channing's hard foul, wasn't. Good calls by the refs though to maintain control of the game, though. We would have seen a brawl if they hadn't made those calls.) He also made Nash work, bodying him close at the top of the key. Just a solid performance.

Finally, Juwan Howard woke up for the first time in months and played like an NBA player. He contributed and made some big hustle plays to keep us in the game. With Cunningham out of the game, that made it even more important. I severely hope that Juwan can keep that up the rest of the series.

No one else on the team really stood out, as Marty went scoreless with an amazing block and Rudy hit only one three pointer.

We're not back in the driver's seat for this series, but we definitely have called shotgun.