Five days ago against the Utah Jazz, Roy mustered only nine minutes and twenty-seven seconds in the first quarter before the "very painful" tailbone he injured in Chicago days earlier became too much to bear.

He felt he was doing more harm than good, so he sat but wasn't happy about it. Nate McMillan told Roy not to be too hard on himself. So all Roy could do at that point was trust his teammates, a step in faith which is becoming common place in Portland this season even if the rest of the league doesn't see it.

Two hours later in front of a sold-out Rose Garden, Roy watched on in amazement as Portland scored 64 second half points (after putting up 39 in the first half) on their way to another victory over Utah, their third in four attempts this season.

Right then it became clear Portland has officially become more than a two-man show featuring Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge.

"We need all of our guys to play well and guys are stepping up in each of these wins. They are taking advantage of the opportunity," said head coach Nate McMillan. "We are finding out we have a few guys who can play basketball."

Last month while Portland went 13-2, McMillan relied heavily on a complete team effort while Aldridge missed five games with plantar fasciitis. And even though Roy said Tuesday he "is planning to go" Wednesday against the Golden State Warriors, it's apparent the Blazers supporting cast certainly will be called upon once again to deliver.   

"Regardless of who is in uniform we want to play the game the right way," McMillan added.

"We stick with that philosophy," back-up point guard Jarrett Jack said of the mantra.

Jack, who converted a go-ahead three-point play with 19.3 seconds left in double-overtime in Portland's win at Chicago last week, is part of the Blazers bench whom McMillan has dubbed the "white unit," and Jack is not alone. 

Channing Frye appears to have finally found his comfort zone as a reserve after sniffing the starting rotation. Sergio Rodriguez is benefiting from the slack in McMillan's leash and finished with 12 points and 4 assists against Utah. James Jones, who ranks first in the league in three-point field-goal percentage(53.5%), is the savvy floor general everyone in the organization applauds and they don't call Travis Oulaw "Mr. 4th Quarter" for nothing.

Watch and learn.

Roy and Aldridge may get the publicity, but the Blazers bench is showing they deserve some respect for their timely play with Jones (10 points per game) and Outlaw (12 points, 5 rebounds per game) pleading that case with their production.

"If we can continue to do that, we have some awesome guys and right now our bench is doing a great job," Frye told HOOPSWORLD. "At the beginning of the year it was them (the starters) and during the streak it was us (the reserves), then it was them and then maybe it's us. It just depends on who plays."

Over the past 17 games, the "white unit" has averaged 42.5 points compared to their opponents' 29.5 points and Portland's bench has outscored 15 of the last 17 opponents' benches.

Five may start, two certainly get the attention, but when you play Portland you might as well be ready for thirteen on five.

Hang around Nate McMillan long enough and you'll be sure to hear the words "team effort" associated with what Portland has done this season going 21-13, which is currently good for a share of first place in the Northwest Division with the Denver Nuggets. 

But now that the Blazers have won without Aldridge and Roy available at separate times during the season, McMillan may soon utter two other words regarding Portland's supporting cast:

Thank goodness.