2011 NBA Playoffs: Portland Trailblazers' Brandon Roy Almost Cried During Game 2

It is kind of awkward to think of a 6’6", 211-pound basketball player playing the weeping willow role on the sidelines of a playoff game. As weird as that sight may seem, millions were almost witness to it during Game 2 of the series between the Western Conference’s most evenly matched teams, the Dallas Mavericks and the Portland Trail Blazers.

Brandon Roy only played for about eight minutes as he was forced to watch his team fall to Dallas once again, allowing the series to be controlled 2-0 in the Mavericks favor.

Maybe what kept him from crying was the internal plea of his manhood to stay strong during such a peak time in his season. Maybe it was the fact that there were cameras all over and if he had shed so much as one single tear, he would have been ridiculed for the rest of his career and long after on every late night show on television.

I guess it is just as bad that he said to reporters how choked up he became when he felt like he could be of some assistance in areas that his team needed him most.

In Game 1 against the Mavericks, he played 26 minutes and only scored two points, so to say that Nate McMillan, Portland’s head coach, was ill-advised in his actions by seating Roy a little longer than usual is a bad call.

In case Roy had not noticed, he is not a starter anymore. After being out for two months because of a surgery that took place on both of his knees, he has become a bench-rider only being called to duty when the coach feels like he can be an asset instead of a liability.

In the last five games that Portland has played, Roy only took part in four, only scoring combined points total of nine and a mere eight assists. He is not the All-Star he once was for the team.

LaMarcus Aldridge has become the main face associated with the franchise now. Even Gerald Wallace, as brief as he has been a part of the team, has become more of a consistent deliverance than the once unstoppable Brandon Roy.

I remember the days when everyone was criticizing Aldridge for not driving in the paint like a big man with his agility and size is supposed to do, while looking to Roy to be Portland’s savior.

I remember when Roy was named the 2006-07 NBA Rookie of the Year as Portland was going through trials of its own, just re-purchasing the Rose Garden and finishing the season with an 11-game improvement from the previous year (32-50).

Although, the Blazers made a sloppy mistake in drafting Greg Oden instead of Kevin Durant that year, they had Roy, who gave the franchise all the hope it needed to push forward.

Now, he is a representation of how apt titles are removed in a league of emotional indifference. No one cares how much you put into the game if right now, at this very moment, you cannot deliver. Right now, at this moment, Roy cannot deliver like he needs to.

Therefore, his desires to be called upon in these vital times as a Trail Blazer will go unanswered and bypassed for those who create more opportunities for the team to advance. That is the way of the athletic world.

When has there ever been a moment, besides with Derek Jeter and the Yankees, that a player who is not playing to his maximum potential is still placed on a golden pedestal?

In the NBA, I can only think of Michael Jordan’s disappointing return to the league to play with the Washington Wizards, but Roy is no Jordan.

What is he hoping to accomplish by speaking to the press and voicing his discontent and ongoing concerns about his treatment in Portland? Is he looking for teams to listen good and hard to his pain so he can shop his talents around? Who would want him?

He is lucky that McMillan is even putting him on the floor after his subpar post-surgery performances.

Let’s handle these situations like grown-ups next time, boys.