A Date With ‘Miss I.V.’ = Poison I.V. To Houston
by Tim Becker, KOIN Local 6 Sports Department
He’s a magician. A master of disguise. A man who masks the truth better than any politician you’ll ever shake hands with…. well, almost.
Because if Brandon Roy was sick before Tuesday’s game 5 of the Blazers-Rockets series…
If he was laying flat on a table somewhere with an I.V. needle in his arm taking in vital fluids…
If he was anything less than the rock-steady All-Star player we’ve come to know, it didn’t show out there on the floor. Especially in the fourth quarter, when he duped the Rockets into submission. Except this was no illusion. It was very real. Another dazzling display of will-power, heart, and determination. The Blazers disarmed the ticking time-bomb that Houston can be down the stretch of big games, with a 15-nothing run. Mr. Roy scored nine of those 15 points, and the outcome was never in doubt again.
Doubt. We should know better. When Roy’s teammates and coach said Monday that he’d 'be fine,' and ‘ready to play’ despite missing practice with flu-like symptoms, we sort of believed. But somewhere deep inside, some also wondered, and some doubted.
It was only after the 88-77 win that Brandon revealed his date with ‘Miss I.V.’ before the game; That he felt “lousy” after the morning shoot-around, and so arrived at the Rose Garden early for the I.V. treatment that he says, made all the difference in that final quarter:
“I struggled throughout the game to catch my second wind, but late, I finally felt good, I finally had some bounce to my step and was able to make some baskets to help my team win this game…”
And the Rockets never knew what hit them--- even when Roy was out of sorts--- for two reasons:
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Because Roy wasn’t himself during most of game 5, his teammates were forced to shoulder the work-load even more---a mentality Roy says they need to keep--- even when he’s 100 percent healthy. It worked. They moved better, played better, passed better, shot better, defended better, and rebounded better.
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When Roy did find his ‘second wind,’ it was like a wicked change-up pitch that struck-out the Rockets at home-plate; A fluttering knuckleball that had Houston players flailing their bats aimlessly. Suddenly, they had to deal with the best player in the other uniform again, and they simply didn’t know what to do.
So bring on Game VI in Houston. Because if a date with ‘Miss I.V.’ did the trick, I’ll excuse Brandon for stepping-out for a day. He has the Rockets all scratching their heads right now.
But it’s not just their heads that itch: The Rockets developed a bad rash all over during Game-5 Tuesday night in Portland. They think it’s the pressure to win Game-6 and avoid first-round elimination for a seventh straight season.
I think it’s a bad case of Poison I.V.
