AB will put up another show in the great state of Oregon! He knows by heart that he is a star and an all american player coming out of college with lots of families, fans and friends watching him, he can't denied it that he will have another great game ever tonight. Coach Adelman was very much comfortable with AB after all he said it during the after the game interview! AB will have another awesome game!
his confidence must be sky high after game 1 so i hope he can do something similar. 15 pts and around 5-6 dimes are great enough.
How about if Blazers play Roy or Rudy as their primary playmaker? I am afraid AB would be destroyed by their size...
Brooks should have a good series against this team. He's played pretty well against them every game this year.
I'm not too worried about Brooks. I think he'll do his job. I want our bench to step up more. Outside of Mutombo who was fantastic, they had a lackluster game 1. Carl Landry, in particular, was practically invisible other than that one charge he drew. We need him to be more active as a rebounder and finisher.
i agree, he doesn't have to have another game 1 performance he just has to enough to keep portland on their toes .
Brandon Roy, Aaron Brooks: friendly rivals by Geoffrey C. Arnold, The Oregonian Monday April 20, 2009, 7:48 PM Jamie Francis/The Oregonian Brandon Roy experienced unwanted memories after watching Aaron Brooks play Saturday night at the Rose Garden. "I remember him making game-winning shots on me in the third grade," Roy said. "I still get mad about that." The two have been friends since childhood, but that friendship has been suspended because of the renewal of a rivalry that has existed since those days growing up in Seattle. Brooks scored a game-high 27 points, shooting 5 of 8 from three-point range, to help the Houston Rockets defeat Roy and the Trail Blazers 108-81 in the opener of their first-round playoff series. "When you step in between the lines, the friendship stuff is gone," Brooks said. "You gotta have that (mentality) when you get on the court. If Brandon tried to dunk on me, I'm gonna try to block it. On the court, we battle. And afterwards, we're friends again." They were rivals until Roy joined Brooks on the same amateur basketball team in grade school. The two played together until high school. Roy enrolled at Garfield and Brooks attended Franklin, where they continued a family rivalry. "It all started when his brother went to Garfield and my brother went to Franklin," Brooks said. "We followed our brothers. There was already a rivalry before we got there." The two squared off in some memorable high school games. "The walls were sweating and it was packed in the gym whenever we played against each other," Brooks said. "There were people outside trying to get into the gym. AP Photo/Pat SullivanHouston Rockets' Aaron Brooks (0) goes to the basket against Portland Trail Blazers' LaMarcus Aldridge, right, as Portland's Brandon Roy (7) looks on during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, April 5, 2009, in Houston. "I remember one time they beat us by 49 points on television. I was so mad. They got us pretty good that year, they beat us three times. And then we came back and beat them two out of three times the next year. So it's always been a back-and-forth rivalry." The rivalry continued in the Pacific-10 Conference. Roy played at Washington, Brooks at Oregon. An incident during a Huskies-Ducks game caused a strain in the relationship. Brooks hit Washington player Ryan Appleby in the face with a forearm during a Pac-10 tournament game in March 2006. Brooks was ejected for what was called an "act of fighting" and was suspended for Oregon's game the next night against California. The Ducks also suspended Brooks for two games the following season. "I was upset he hit my teammate," Roy said. "But, I told Ryan, try not to hold a grudge, because Aaron is not a bad guy. He was caught up in the emotions of the game." Roy and Brooks discussed the incident after emotions cooled, and eventually moved on. "Ryan was gonna handle it the way he wanted, but at the end of the day, I talked to Aaron and he was sincere about his apology," Roy said. "And we were kind of friends again right after that." Roy had watched Brooks long enough to believe the point guard possessed enough talent to play in the NBA. "He always plays with a huge amount of confidence," Roy said. "I remember when we were little, he would always play with the older teams. He never played on a team his age." Brooks was just as sure about Roy reaching the NBA, and he isn't surprised by Roy's rapid ascent to league stardom. But Brooks wasn't so sure about himself. "I thought he would definitely have a shot at the NBA," Brooks said of Roy. "Me, at my height, I was a little more questionable." While Roy is the star and first option on offense for the Blazers, Brooks has started a handful of games at point guard and probably is the third option for the Rockets, behind Yao Ming and Ron Artest. Although Roy and Brooks have renewed their rivalry, this time the stakes are much higher. Their connection remains special because it dates to grade school. "I'm gonna be mad (if we lose), because I was mad when we were little," Roy said. "I'll be mad for a little bit, but we'll be friends." http://www.oregonlive.com/nba/index.ssf/2009/04/roy_brooks_friendly_rivals.html That's a nice article......Now I understand why Brooks was so confident...
Awesome. So he won't take this year's loss too hard either. I'm glad he's not deluding himself with hopes of beating us.
I really hope game 1 wasn't a fluke. The Blazers are a good team. The obviously didn't make the playoffs out of luck. I hope the Rockets don't sleep on them like they did with the Bucks and paid the price for it.
1) Brooks plays without fear of Roy 2) Playings in his backyard (homecourt) with fans and family. 3) Shot really well first game, should maintain high confidence. 4) Playing against a slower guard, Blake Brooks will have a great game tonight.
And I thought confidence was AB's biggest problem! Hmmm. He really looks unsure of himself from time to time. Maybe, I am misreading.
Seems like everyone is on the AB bandwagon - for now. Let me put a different spin on things...AB's shot isn't falling tonight (which I think is a good chance as he is hot and cold) who ya gonna call? Enter KL7. Lowry is the guy tonight, he will beat the scrawny Blazer guards into submission.
I wish there was another 20 seconds and AB might got us over the hump! That was a scare moment for the Blasers watching AB hitting 2 big 3's. Like i said he will have a 1 hell of a series against this team!
