The Official Site of Brandon Roy

Mon, Feb 9th 2009, 09:19

Buzzer-Beater by Brandon sends fans home happy

Brandon Roy has done a lot for the Trail Blazers. He’s served as the team’s ambassador during its trying times. He’s been their All-Star on the court. The captain in the locker room. The face of the franchise to the rest of the country.

On Sunday, the man they call B-Roy also served as a metaphoric trainer for the Blazers, applying a Band-Aid over what figured to be a deep and ugly wound for this team.

Roy knifed through three defenders and made a scooping layup at the buzzer to give the Blazers an exhausting 109-108 victory over the New York Knicks in front of a sellout crowd of 20,609 at the Rose Garden.

It was the 24th time in his two-plus seasons Roy has made a play in the final 35 seconds that has won or sent a game into overtime, and none have covered up seeds of concern more than this one. The Blazers blew a 17-point, third-quarter lead by letting yet another opponent shoot lights out from the field, then fell behind by as many as 13 in the fourth quarter before some big shots from Travis Outlaw and some important defensive stands by Greg Oden and LaMarcus Aldridge set up Roy’s heroics.

“We needed this game,” said Roy, who finished with 19points, eight assists and four rebounds. “We have been struggling.”

The Blazers (31-19) ended a two-game losing streak and don’t play until Wednesday, giving them two days to peek under the Band-Aid and examine the damage of yet another game gone awry.

Immediately after the game, however, everybody wanted a chance to exhale and soak in a victory that very easily could have been a stinging defeat.

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Postgame: Trail Blazers 109, Knicks 108