Details: When: Sunday, December 4th Where: KeyArena Time (Seattle): 5 PM TV: FSN, League Pass Projected Starters: <font color="Green"> Seattle (7-8)</font> Luke Ridnour Ray Allen Rashard Lewis Reggie Evans Nick Collison <font color="DarkOrange"> <font color="DarkSlateBlue">Indiana (10-5)</font></font> Sarunas Jasikevicius Stephen Jackson Ron Artest Austin Croshere Jermaine O'Neal Injury Troubles: <font color="Green">Seattle</font> Rick Brunson - Plantar fasciitis (NO CHANCE WHATSOEVER) Danny Fortson - Toe inflammation (out) <font color="DarkSlateBlue">Indiana</font> Jamaal Tinsley - Sore groin (out) Jonathan Bender - Sore left knee (possible retirement) <div align="center">Brief Notes:</div> * The Supes are coming off of a triumphant victory over one of the league's best teams and the league's hottest player. LeBron got his cookies but in the end the Sonics found a way to stifle the rest of the Cavs players enough to pull out a win at home. Mad propz. * Indiana is fresh off a trouncing in Portland in which JO dominated with a double-double. O'Neal continues to prove his dominance in the paint and should present some big trouble for Seattle's big men. * Don't expect another huge game from Rashard Lewis today. Ron Artest is in town and he should have Lew in check. But who knows... maybe Rashard is just clicking on all cylinders right now and busts out against the lunatic. That would be pretty cool. Random Family Guy Quote: (After claiming he will go on a hunger strike to get Gumble 2 Gumble back on TV) Peter: Are you gonna eat that stapler? TV Executive: You...can't eat a stapler. Peter: Wanna split it? All predictions, analysis and discussion relating directly to the game, both before, during and after, to be posted in this thread.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting monty001:</div><div class="quote_post">Hopefully we can pull of a W today...that would be exciting.</div>
Well we're hanging close in the 1st quarter, I think the Pacers are shooting 60% and getting pretty much anything they want. Rashard taking it to Artest, a good sign. And Flip made his first shot. @ Ehlo, another gem: 'Fred Jones throwed the ball right at his foot'
OMG Ehlo...after Flip split a double team and attempted a dunk: 'Who said Flip's not a true point guard - he split that double team as well as Ridnour or Stockton or anybody'. LOL.
Ray is heating up and it looks like Luke has found his shot finally too, up six nearing HT. Artest is doing his usual job on Rashard too - will be interesting to see how Sweet Lew responds in the second half. We have talked about how he has finally become a consistent All-Star calibre scorer, but how he plays on a guy like Artest will be the truest indicator.
In honor of Michael Ray Richardson: The ship be floating again. What a difference a week can make. Last week we all felt like we were in the Rudy Gay sweepstakes but in the past three games we beat two of the best teams in the East. What's the difference? Bobby realized that we are what we are, a marginal defensive team. So what does he do, he puts line ups in that will maximize our ability to get buckets. These lineups now include Ron Murray who seems ready to remind everyone how easy it is for him to put the ball in the hole when given minutes. Somewhere McMillan is reading our box scores knowing that he couldn't keep Flip hidden forever. Plus the fact that Danny has given our frontline its nastiness back I'm getting the feeling that we can make a run in the next few weeks. Our poor defense will never allow for us to be an upper echelon team but as long as we can consistently score over 105 points we should be able to compete for a NW division title. Great win tonight. I'm just disappointed that I've yet to see my two favorite players in the league go head to head yet. Flip vs. Tinsely. Glad to see Sweet Lew take on the challenge of the physical Artest. This will bode well for his continuing his belief that he is one of the best small forwards in this league.
Good win tonight, we got help from the bench once again, Murray, Fortson, Vladimir, good job by those guys. It was a good game..Good to see us beat a team that is in the category as title contenders. I think we can keep this going, our team seems to be clickin and goin smoothly, the bench is finally doing good and dat was a big part of our sucess. Oh Yeah, Rashard did a good job against Artest, Artest had him in the 1st half, but Rashard was able to come through for us, same as Ray, as always lol.
Lew met my test. 23 points 6 rebounds 3 assists 3 steals ONE TURNOVER!!! All this while guarded by Artest, who almost never switched off him. He is proving he really IS ready to take the next step in his career. Two years ago he faces an Artest, Prince or Kirilenko and he folded. He didn't try to do too much, just let the game come to him and found his moments. Hell, that sounds like Flip in the last two games. He his so important to this team when he plays within the game. He will find his spots to iso and just SHAME his defender, but when he WAITS for those spots to offer themselves up to him...oh that is sweet. This isn't Atlanta or Toronto, the Sonics don't need him to be a dominant 1 on 1 guy all the time. He is going to see the game open up for him if he runs the offense, because Lew and Ray will get him the openings. He looks so confident out there now, his jukes and spin moves on the dribble are tight and not becoming turnovers. Despite the "Flip Hater" club, we all know how good he can be. The real question is how good can he be for the Sonics. The answer is the last two games are only a taste.
Count me off the "back on track" bandwagon until the all-star break. You don't go from being as <u>horrible </u>as the Sonics were earlier to a playoff team that easily.
Solid win for us. Indiana looked a bit sloppy on the last day of a long road trip, but we did what we're supposed to do by running the ball at them all night long. I hope Ray is realizing that having the ball in Flips hands when they're on the court together makes us a lot more dangerous. I think he is as I saw a few times where he tossed the ball to him in the backcourt and got out of his way. Between this and the Dawgs big win over Gonzaga and it's been a great hoops weekend in Seattle. Now the Hawks take Monday night and I'll be happy.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Casual:</div><div class="quote_post">Count me off the "back on track" bandwagon until the all-star break. You don't go from being as <u>horrible </u>as the Sonics were earlier to a playoff team that easily.</div> Such a pessimist Casual. Where is the bandwagon anyway. Most of us are just happy to see them executing and getting a win.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting psheehy:</div><div class="quote_post">Such a pessimist Casual. Where is the bandwagon anyway. Most of us are just happy to see them executing and getting a win.</div> Should I delete my Bob Weiss coach of the year and Rashard for MVP banner I was making then? Excellent game though. The bench is coming through and thats what we had last year that we havent had this year but it still feels like we really need things going well for us to win a game. Last year we could have a bad game and still win I dont see that happening this year
