Mad Respect

Brandon Roy still winning games for injury plagued Portland

The Clarion Content hasn't seen enough of the Portland Trailblazers to understand truly how they are doing it, but we have to give them mad respect. We must admit when their centers Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla went down with series injuries within days of each other we thought that the Blazers were in trouble. We figured in the ultra-competitive Western Conference, where even presumed scrubs like Memphis and Sacramento are showing resilience and talent, there was no way Portland could hang in there. We were sure they would slowly and steadily fall out of the playoff picture.

Brandon Roy and the rest of the cast have proven us wrong. We are definitely surprised. The Blazers are now seven up and three down in their last ten, including a win last night over the defending champion Lakers. It is not like Oden and Pryzbilla are their only injuries either, Portland is also playing without starting forward Nicolas Batum (shoulder surgery,) Travis Outlaw (broken left foot,) and guard Rudy Fernandez who had to have a back surgery. Seriously.

Who is doing it for the Blazers besides Roy? Would you believe thirty-five year-old former Fab Fiver, Juwan Howard? Howard is averaging nearly 12pts and 7 rebounds per in his last five games. What about straight out high schooler, now twenty-three year-old, Martell Webster? Once the highest NBA draft pick ever assigned straight to the D-League, Webster is only averaging 10.4pts and 4 rebs per on the season, but he has exploded since the big guy's injuries. Webster is averaging 19.2pts and 6+ rebs per in his last five.

Can these cast-offs, along with Andre Miller and Brandon Roy, keep it up and somehow allow injury decimated Portland to stay in the playoff race? The Clarion Content doubts it, but the Blazers have already proven us wrong once this season. Keep your eye on them.

One more note of local interest, the Blazers signed former Dukie Shavlik Randolph to a 10-day contract on Friday.