The Portland Trail Blazers’ misfortune at the hands of the Phoenix Suns made for a window of opportunity for Patty Mills, as he made his NBA Playoffs debut tonight. As the Blazers endured a drubbing at the hands of the Suns in game two of their first round playoff series, coach Nate McMillan saw a rare opportunity to inject the young Aussie into his first playoff game.
The Blazers were destroyed 119-90 by the Suns, equalling the series at 1-1 after Portland had stolen a game on Phoenix’s home court. Mills made his first stint in the game, playing the final 1:44 of the third quarter (scoreless), before entering again for a second stint in the final 5:41 of garbage time. He put up six points on 2/4 from the field, 1/1 from the line and 1/1 from deep during the total 7:25 he spent on court. He played alongside fellow benchie Travis Diener in the fourth, which meant shifting Mills to the shooting guard spot, a role he is not unaccustomed to.
During Portland’s final regular season game (against the Golden State Warriors), Mills also saw playing time, scoring an NBA career-high 11 points in 13 minutes. He also managed two assists, one rebound and two turnovers during that fast-paced game. More importantly though, playing that tenth game of the regular season guaranteed Mills’ contract for next season — given the behaviour of McMillan during the season it was unexpected by most Blazers observers that Patty would see time in his tenth game.
The last time an Australian player saw action in the NBA Playoffs was during 2006 when Andrew Bogut played five playoff games with his Bucks. Of course, Bogut has disastrously missed the playoffs this season due to injury, as Milwaukee pushes on against the odds in their series against the Atlanta Hawks.
On a lighter note, it appears that Patty got himself a fresh haircut for the playoffs too. See the difference between the Warriors game and tonight’s game against the Suns:
[image source : Yahoo/Getty]
