What a great series of moments for a guy who has had a very rough season.

It’s never a good thing when people describe your knees as “bone on bone,” but that’s the case with Brandon Roy, and that makes what he did in Game 4 all that more amazing.

The Blazers trailed by 23 points (64-41) with 2:47 to play in the third quarter. Over the final 15 minutes, Portland outscored Dallas by a 43-18 margin, winning Game 4 by two, 84-82. And it was mostly due to Roy’s playmaking and shot-making.

He hit a three-pointer to close the third quarter, and then scored 18 points (on 8-for-10 shooting, including a backbreaking four-point play) to go along with four assists in the final period. He was involved in 30 of Portland’s final 38 points of the game, including a nine-foot driving bank shot with 0:39 to play that gave Portland the lead for good. It was truly a masterful performance from one of the bright young stars who will unfortunately never have the career he was supposed to have due to those balky knees.

The series is tied at 2-2 as it heads back to Dallas for Game 5 on Monday night. No word on whether or not Mark Cuban has come down from the ledge.

Via his Twitter page, Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that Brandon Roy is going to have knee surgery, which will likely sideline him for the rest of the season.

Portland’s Brandon Roy will undergo surgery to repair meniscus tear in right knee, Blazers say. He will miss the first-round playoff series.

Team says out for at least Phoenix series, and source close to him says “There’s no way” he’d return this season, even if Blazers advance.

Recovery on Roy’s surgery is typically 4-6 weeks. As badly he wants to try, there’s just no way anyone would let him take such a risk.

I’m not saying that the Blazers are done, but they’re going to have a tough road ahead if they’re going to beat the Suns without their star player.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

It was a busy Monday for the Portland Trail Blazers. First, they learned that Brandon Roy has a torn meniscus in his right knee that will require surgery. The doctors said it can’t get any worse, so he is going to try to play on it, but there’s no telling how effective he’ll be.

The Blazers rallied to beat the Thunder on Monday night, effectively avoiding a first round matchup with the Lakers in the process. Marcus Camby posted 30-13, while Andre Miller added 22-4-7 and four steals in the win. The loss means that OKC will meet L.A. in the first round, which should be a fun matchup.

If the Blazers win their final game (against Golden State), they’ll assure themselves of the #6 seed. It’s not clear how Portland will fare with a hobbled Roy. He has had a very good start to his career, but one of the concerns coming out of college was how his knees would hold up to the rigors of an NBA season. This is terrible timing for a Blazers team that was gelling at just the right time. Portland has won 18 of its last 23 games and seems/seemed poised to pull a first-round upset in the postseason.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Here is what John Hollinger said about his rookie season:

The combo guard had a rough rookie year, but the problem wasn’t the oft-heard mantra that Bayless is a shooting guard trapped in a point guard’s body. There are lots of players like that in the league and many of them are thriving. No, Bayless’ issue was that he was a shooting guard who couldn’t shoot trapped in a point guard’s body. That’s a problem.

After the game, Bayless commented about his role with the team:

“Me and Brandon talk about it a lot,” said the second-year guard from Arizona. “He can be Lebron (James) and I can be the Mo Williams of our offense.

“Mo’s not a pure point; he’s a guy who can make plays. That’s what I tried to do tonight — make plays for myself and everybody else.”

If Bayless can shoot the ball well, he can play alongside Roy in the backcourt. The Blazers want a player who can space the court and keep double-teams off of their superstar. Bayless’s FG% has risen from 37% in his rookie season to 53% and his 3P% has risen from 26% to 36% over the same span. If he can keep shooting the ball like that, he will get minutes.

Per ESPN…

Agent Bob Myers confirmed to The Associated Press late Wednesday night that Roy agreed in principle to a contract at the NBA maximum salary. The fifth year is at Roy’s option. Specific numbers won’t be available until the NBA salary cap is set next July. This year a starting max contract would be worth $82 million over the course of five years. However, next year the cap is expected to go down between 5 and 10 percent. That means the value of Roy’s contract will go down, too.

The 25-year-old Roy will earn just under $4 million this season, the final year of his rookie contract. The new deal is likely to net him around $14 million for the 2010-11 season, and he will receive 10.5 percent raises on his base salary each season from 2011-2012 through the end of the deal.

From the start, this looked like it should be an easy deal to negotiate. Brandon Roy is a franchise-type player, so he deserves franchise-type money. And he got it.

His knees are a bit of a concern, but they haven’t slowed him down much in his three-year NBA career. Last season, he averaged 22.6 points, 5.1 assists and 4.7 rebounds in 78 games. While his overall field goal percentage (48.0%) is outstanding for a shooting guard, I’d like to see him continue to improve his three-point accuracy, which was a decent 37.7% last season. However, it’s tough for franchise players to post efficient shooting stats because they’re asked to take so many shots up against the shot clock.

This is obviously a good signing for the Blazers. Now they can turn their attention to re-signing LaMarcus Aldridge.

Players drafted in 2006 are eligible to sign an extension this summer. A couple of months ago, I tried to estimate what some of the big-name guys would sign for.

Brandon Roy, G, Blazers
Age: 24
PER: 24.08
Comparables: Kobe Bryant ($23.0 M), Dwyane Wade ($15.8 M)
The Blazers hit a home run with Roy. In his third season, he averaged 22.6 points, 5.1 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game. Moreover, he did it efficiently, shooting a stellar 48% from the field, 38% from long range and 82% from the line. Simply stated, he is one of the league’s best all-around players. I’d be shocked if the Blazers didn’t offer him a max contract, though he may elect to sign a shorter three- or four-year deal (like LeBron and Wade did) to give him more flexibility in the future. (Just to throw a little salt in the wounds, the Bobcats, Bulls, Hawks and Celtics all had a shot at Roy on the night of the draft and passed.)
Value: $14.5 M – $15.5 M per year, depending on the salary cap

Well, count me as mildly shocked. The two sides actually disagreed on the length, but it was the Blazers who reportedly wanted the shorter deal, not Roy. While one would think that the team would want to lock up their superstar for as long as possible, it is a huge investment. Roy does have a history of injury, so if he were to suffer a major setback, it would be a blow to the Blazers’ books.

But as ESPN has reported, the two sides are nearing a deal.

“We’ve had very productive discussions recently and are optimistic we will reach a deal soon,” Roy’s agent, Bob Myers said, according to the newspaper.

According to the report, Roy has been seeking a four-year deal with a player option for the fifth year at a maximum $82 million.

That works out to more than $16 million per year, which is a pretty penny. But a healthy Roy is worth it.