Luke looked really good. If this game is any indication, he seems to have finally turned the corner on driving to the hoop. He made several nice drives during the game. Sene looks like he'll be a ridiculously good defensive player when he gets stronger. He got pushed around by much smaller guys tonight. It was the same old thing for Ray and Rashard. Didn't see much penetration from Rashard, although he looked more comfortable handling the ball. Damien also looked great. Earl didn't play much because Luke was doing so well. Wilcox was okay, had a couple nasty throwdowns for good measure. Gelebale only played a few minutes. Petro and Collison looked awful. Petro seemingly hasn't improved from last year. I thought Collison's preseason performance might've been a little inflated because of the lesser competition he was up against, and he didn't prove me wrong tonight. He knows how to play, but he arrives a step too slow or jumps an inch too low to get it done. There are less athletic players than him in the league who can be effective, so I think it's really a matter of confidence. It's hard to believe that a collection of professional basketball players could be this bad at defense. It's astounding, really. I could go to the gym, pick up five guys I've never met in my life, and play better defense with them than the Sonics do with each other. Apparently the concept of help defense is too much for them to comprehend. Bob Hill really sucks at rotations. He always leaves players in the game too long, and ends up having to take them out at awkward times or having to leave them in longer than he should because there's not enough time to rest them. The Sonics are an interesting team. They can beat anybody in the NBA when they're executing well and they can lose to anybody in the NBA when they're not. The defense is obviously a huge problem. Offense will be a cinch most nights because most of the time at least two guys out of Ridnour, Wilcox, Lewis, and Allen will play well enough to carry the load. I don't particularly agree with the way the offense is run, though. Rashard barely posts up and most of the plays are run from the perimeter. If I was the coach, Rashard on the high post would be option A every time. A game like tonight's highlights the Sonics' biggest problem: they're not confident enough. There's not a lot of urgency when they play. They play hard most of the time, sure, but they don't have the swagger that winning teams have. It's like they're resigned to the fact that they're probably not going to win much. Anyway, this is only the first game. I'm sure I'm wrong about half of this stuff.
Without having seen the game, giving up 110 at home to the worst team in the league would indicate a slight problem defensively.
Defense was only absolutely rotten in spurts. They were rotten at the start and end of the second quarter and the end of the fourth quarter. Outlaw was on the floor for all of those spurts with Udoka and Randolph in most of them. The bench went -8 to start the second and then the four guard lineup with Wilcox killed the end of the quarter where they went -6 (though it was only three guards with Petro/Collison at the very end). The Sonics lost the game in the end though by going -8 after Wilcox fouled out in the fourth. They were just too small in the middle at the end of the halves. Is it fair to expect Danny to help fix that while he remains Public Enemy #1 on Stu Jackson's hit list? I sat there and could not imagine how we were going to lose a game where both Ray and Lew were on, we had scoring from the bench (although it was only one guy), Wilcox played like the guy we WANT at that spot, Luke was simply fantastic and the rookie center didn't make any huge mistakes. Mo looked really good to start the game. Once he was out, though, the defense collapsed. Let's hope his injury is VERY minor. We had spurts of solid defense that led to fast break offense, but those three spurts I mentioned killed the game, and sadly, these lapses couldn't have totalled more than 10 minutes. When they played bad, they played REALLY bad, and it was at both ends.
I saw bits and pieces of the game, particularly when Brandon Roy took over the game to keep the Blazers close in the 2nd half ? We couldn?t stop their pick and roll, I figure it?s our guards getting bumped off so easily. Meanwhile I saw us trying the same high screen and roll with Ray Allen and Brandon Roy just fought through the screen and moved his feet ? play busted. As you can tell I was really impressed with Roy on both ends of the court.
He was very solid last night, didn't even seem like a rookie. Is it me or did he improve his shooting form?
Who isn't impressed with Roy? Is there any doubt that he is the front runner for Rookie of the Year? I am a big fan of Randy Foye and I think that he could end up being the best rookie in this class, but on a team where Kevin Garnett may end up needing plays drawn up for him to get the ball, I think that Foye development may take a little longer than anticipated. Roy on the other hand, looked like he had been in the league for 5 years last night. Every local product comes back and destroys the Supes. ....as for the game (and I am able to see them all real time now that I have the League Pass -- Gods gift to humanity btw) this team looked like they had no idea how to win. It literally looked like a pick up game for a large stretch. Anyone who doesn't believe that our bench will be an extreme asset to us is an idiot. Nick and Earl struggled but at the end of the day they are probably our 3rd and 4th best players. No one seemed to mention that Ray struggled mightly last night and that we abandoned the concept of a post up threat. Running is one thing -- but shooting an ill-advised contested shot on a fast break just to say that we are dictating tempo then watching the other team get a transition bucket isn't my idea of championship basketball. Not too disappointed about the game but for a team that is trying to generate some enthusiasm in the area losing to your cross town rivals (who are predicted to be the worst team in the league) isn't the best way to begin the year. Luke, Damien, and Chris played better than I expected. We need some low post scoring and defense. Hopefully Mo Sene can continue to establish himself as a stalwart on the defensive end.
<div class="quote_poster">monty001 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">He was very solid last night, didn't even seem like a rookie. Is it me or did he improve his shooting form?</div> He did. He used to shoot like Salim Stoudamire, with a lightning quick release. Of course, he's no Salim Stoudamire and that was not a good form for the average player. Now he follows through with his right hand and squares his shoulders better.
<div class="quote_poster">Iron Shiek Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">No one seemed to mention that Ray struggled mightly last night and that we abandoned the concept of a post up threat. </div> Ray struggled shooting (2-7 from 3) but he still scored 22 points...because he took the ball to hole when his shot was off. Stop whining, Flip plays for the Pistons now. Earl stunk on defense and shooting last night, but he still distributed the ball well. I do admit though that next game Ray will be hot from deep and ignore the paint, Luke will stink it up and Earl will look amazing.
<div class="quote_poster">psheehy Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Ray struggled shooting (2-7 from 3) but he still scored 22 points...because he took the ball to hole when his shot was off. Stop whining, Flip plays for the Pistons now.</div> Your son would be proud of Ray's performance yesterday. He is a veteran who understands how to be composed late in games. The Sonics were in search of some veteran leadership and he didn't provide any. Brandon Roy, a rookie, outplayed him last night. This doesn't have anything to do with Flip--Ray did not perform to his capabilities. As far as whining, I will turn over a new leaf and not make any reference to anything negative involving the Sonics and hope that the city's positive reinforcement will be enough to keep the Sonics in Seattle. Record be damn, the Sonics fate rests solely on the good will nature of its fan base. That is why I expect all negative comments about any Sonic related issues to only be voiced by Nick Licata. Anyone else who dares to criticize this model franchise will feel the wrath of psheehy.
My eldest son thinks basketball is "stupid" and "boring," so he is unlikely to care whether Ray hits the game winning shot or clangs it off the rim and into Steve Javie's whistle. (While Jess Kersey may live on the better side of idiot/tolerable fool dividing line for refs, the idea of a ref getting whacked with the ball and forced to sit out the game was still funny in concept, at least to me.) My younger son is still young enough to want me as his hero, so I don't have to ease him through the tragedy of Ray missing a few shots in the first game of the season. Thank you for your concern, however. My wrath is great and terrible and I appreciate your clear respect for its formidable power. Roy outplayed Allen...there is no doubt about it. We needed his shot to fall in the waning seconds and he failed to step up, there is no doubt about it. Based on his impressive history of hitting the big shot or putting up the big game, I don't leap on the guy in the first game of the season. We lost because the we weren't deep enough in the middle. That is proven by who was on the floor when the Blazers made their three big, unanswered runs. Shiek, whatever I disagree with you about, I am fairly certain that you have more intelligence in the fingernail of your right pinky than Nick Licata has possessed or demonstrated in his entire lifetime. Please don't soil yourself with metaphors or analogies including that man. The forum just needs a little good old fashioned surliness to get it going again. The five people that post here can only hash over the same three topics so many times.
<div class="quote_poster">psheehy Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">... you have more intelligence in the fingernail of your right pinky than Nick Licata has possessed or demonstrated in his entire lifetime. Please don't soil yourself with metaphors or analogies including that man. The forum just needs a little good old fashioned surliness to get it going again. The five people that post here can only hash over the same three topics so many times.</div> Speaking of pinky's. I was listening to Bit- I mean, Mitch in the Morning today and he was reading out emails. One email was saying how Mike Gastineu's right pinky knows more about sports than Mitch does. I'm not saying that you wrote that email...but I just find it amusing to hear about right pinky's twice in my morning so far. We do need more people posting here, but I like the consistency of the people who do post here. It's fun to read what you guys have to say. I just try to keep up with you guys.
We are talking about the same Ray Allen who has singlehandedly won this franchise numerous games with his exploits in the clutch, aren't we? It's one game.
I don't believe in KJR's right to exist now that they force me to listen to KTTH for basketball. I wouldn't email them a dang thing these days.
