Suns Basketball » brandon roy

Andrew Bynum Will Play in Game 4

Fanhouse NBA Blog - suns — Tue, 25 May 2010 01:22:42 +0000

Filed under: Lakers, Suns, NBA Injuries, NBA Playoffs

PHOENIX -- There won't be an Andrew Bynum benching.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson, after watching Bynum stagger through a two-point, two-rebound showing in eight foul-plagued minutes Sunday, said his center might miss some game time due to the torn meniscus in his right knee. But, after talking to Bynum on Monday, the coach said he has no plans now to sit him.

"I was worried he was impinging his ability to play by concern about his health and his status, and he says he's OK,'' said Jackson, whose Lakers lost 118-109 Sunday to Phoenix and now have their lead in the Western Conference finals cut to 2-1. "I wanted to talk to him [Monday] morning and he said he was fine.''

Jackson said he watched a tape of the game. He saw one play early in the second quarter that offered some reassurance.

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The Plague Rolls On: Critiquing the All-NBA Teams

Fanhouse NBA Blog - suns — Thu, 06 May 2010 23:56:09 +0000

by Bethlehem Shoals

Filed under: Bucks, Cavaliers, Celtics, Hawks, Heat, Jazz, Lakers, Magic, Raptors, Spurs, Suns, Trail Blazers, NBA All-Star Game, NBA Awards

Mere hours ago, I asked how the public was supposed to make sense of conflicting NBA honors, and how this state of emergency was good for the league or its players. Then, like clockwork, the 2010 All-NBA teams went out. Now, I am at the point of boiling.

First, there's the tension between All-NBA and All-Star. The case for: the All-Star Game is mid-season, divided up by conference, and must contend with the totally cross-eyed fan voting. Big names are guaranteed All-Stars, almost more so if they're past their due date. That's not the same as the league's absolute best players, some of whom find their way in only as coaches' selections -- or, as has been the case for Deron Williams, don't make it in due to position bottlenecks.

Guard positions are undifferentiated, even as the league overflows with amazing pure points, while center has yet to -- as empiricism would strongly suggest -- switch itself to PF/C. On top of all that, it's All-Star appearances that are most frequently mentioned in obituaries. That's the All-Stars. All-NBA, voted on by the media, is in a weird position. The All-Star team has the most ignorant voters set the stage, and then leaves it to the most informed to both correct obvious mistakes and show off their expertise.

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Blazers Playoff Notebook: McMillan Struggles to Find an Advantage

Fanhouse NBA Blog - suns — Tue, 04 May 2010 06:07:03 +0000

by Brett Pollakoff

Filed under: Suns, Trail Blazers, NBA Playoffs

PHOENIX -- The Suns and the Blazers both held practice Saturday morning in preparation for their Game 1 match-up Sunday night in Phoenix. Following are selected quotes from the Blazers' media availability; also see the Suns report.

o. Portland had yet another injury situation arise, this time the ankle of Marcus Camby, which the big man rolled during practice on Friday. It won't keep him out of Game 1, but it did keep him away from the media on Saturday. Nate McMillan was asked about how he and his team deal with yet another injury to his team.

"We're kind of numb to that now," Mcmillan said. "You know so many things have happened to us, and we've had to play through this all season long. We'll be ready to go [Sunday]."

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Suns Playoff Notebook: Amar’e Stoudemire Is Looking to Dominate

Fanhouse NBA Blog - suns — Tue, 04 May 2010 06:07:03 +0000

by Brett Pollakoff

Filed under: Suns, Trail Blazers, NBA Playoffs, NBA Videos

PHOENIX -- The Suns and the Blazers both held practice Saturday morning, in preparation for their Game 1 match-up Sunday night in Phoenix. Following are selected quotes from the Suns media availability; also see Blazers report.

o. Alvin Gentry talked about Portland's defense, and what makes the Blazers such a difficult opponent.

"They almost put you in a situation where you've got to grind out the game," Gentry said. "They're not a high-scoring team, but what they do, they do great, and that is they do a great job of defending the ball, and then they do a great job of trying to create situations where there's always three guys in the lane. So if you drive the basketball, there's always three guys there. And I think their whole philosophy is, if you can beat us shooting jump shots, then have at it. But I don't think they give up a lot of easy baskets."

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Brandon Roy Returns, Boosts Blazers in Game 4 Win Over Suns

Fanhouse NBA Blog - suns — Tue, 04 May 2010 06:07:00 +0000

by Sam Amick

Filed under: Suns, Trail Blazers, NBA Playoffs

PORTLAND, Ore. -- It all came down to the sweater vs. the jacket.

That was the decision at hand in the Roy household on Friday night, when Brandon was exchanging endless text messages with Portland coach Nate McMillan about whether he would play against Phoenix the following day and his fiancee, Tiana Bardwell, was waiting for the final word about her man's wardrobe.

"We were trying to see if I should have him dress in a jacket or just a sweater because you have to have a jacket to sit on the bench," Bardwell told FanHouse.

He wore the sweater, but not for long.

It would be replaced by a jersey before tipoff, with Roy pulling the stunner and taking the court just eight days after having arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in the Blazers' riveting 96-87 win that tied the first round series 2-2.

And with all due respect to NBA Supermen Shaquille O'Neal and Dwight Howard, Roy's jersey may as well have had an 'S' emblazoned across his chest.

As sports moments go, this was nothing short of heroic.

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Suns’ Bench Sends Blazers to Brink of Elimination in Game 5

Fanhouse NBA Blog - suns — Tue, 04 May 2010 06:07:00 +0000

by Brett Pollakoff

Filed under: Suns, Trail Blazers, NBA Playoffs

PHOENIX -- Coming off Saturday's Game 4 loss in Portland that tied the series at 2-2, Suns head coach Alvin Gentry talked about the need to get his bench players more involved in the proceedings.

His words turned into action on Monday as Phoenix's bench, led by outstanding performances from Channing Frye and Jared Dudley, outscored the starters 55-52 and ultimately led the Suns to a decisive 107-88 victory in Game 5 of the best-of-seven series.

"That's the way we played the whole year," Gentry said after the game of the boost his team received from the bench. "The entire season we've been a team where our bench has been pretty good -- I think we're in the top five in the league in scoring -- just the energy that they give us."

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Blazers May Be Gone, but GM Kevin Pritchard Should Stay

Fanhouse NBA Blog - suns — Tue, 04 May 2010 06:06:59 +0000

by Sam Amick

Filed under: Suns, Trail Blazers, NBA Playoffs

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The dead man walking couldn't have looked more alive on Thursday night.

Kevin Pritchard was being Kevin Pritchard again, the Portland general manager mingling on the Rose Garden floor while wondering like the rest of the Rip City residents whether his team had one last punch in store.

True to their fighting form, they did.

So spirited was their 99-90 loss to Phoenix that the home crowd stood until the end as if the outcome was reversed, an insurmountable deficit and the end to a torturously-terrific season greeted in the final seconds with the pulsating "Let's go Blazers!" chant. The Blazers faithful were as feverish as ever, hailing this character-filled crew that endured more than 300 games missed due to injury in the regular season and pushed these Suns far more than was reasonable to expect.

And as the sold-out venue was awash in a Blazers love affair that seemed unthinkable just four years ago, there was nary a local thought on the Jail Blazers days of old. The sagging attendance. The constant Blazer presence on the police blotter. The kind of infamy that rarely gets rectified so soon.

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Blazers Must Survive Last Stand in Rose Garden

Fanhouse NBA Blog - suns — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 20:07:00 +0000

by Matt Moore

Filed under: Suns, Trail Blazers

Did you hear? They officially renamed "Murphy's Law" -- "Blazers Law."

As in, "Anyone that can get hurt, will get hurt."

The Portland Trail Blazers have proven themselves to be the most resilient team in 2009-2010. They bounced back from losing their star center Greg Oden (again), only to find their backup, Joel Przybilla, go down in a heap next to him.

They struggled through front office drama, the integration of Andre Miller and Brandon Roy's knee surgery just as they were headed into the playoffs on a hot streak. They've done anything and everything to force their first round series with the Suns to be competitive, even coming out of the gate like dynamite.

Now they're headed back to Portland for their last first round game in the Rose Garden.

Will it be their last stand of the season? Or a launching point on their journey, destination: San Antonio (or sure, why not, Dallas)?

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The Roy Effect wears off in Game 5

Tyler Lockman — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 06:40:13 +0000

It’s hard to dispute that Brandon Roy’s 11th hour return in Game 4 gave the Portland Trail Blazers the emotional boost they needed to avoid going down 3-1 to the Suns. He only scored 10...

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Brandon Roy’s return sparks Blazers’ Game 4 win

Michael Schwartz — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 01:03:08 +0000

The Phoenix Suns had a chance to go for the jugular this afternoon. Instead they watched Brandon Roy pull a Willis Reed, as the Portland Trail Blazers evened the series 2-2 with a 96-87 victory this...

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