Did I mention how much I hate Ray Allen? In the closing minutes of this game he missed two crucial free throws that could have given us some breathing room, considering that we led virtually the entire game. He came into the game shooting 100% from the line and the moment that we need him to step up and do what he does he didn't. Coupled with the fact that our time management was absolutely atrocious late in the game makes me wonder if we are going win many nip and tuck games this season at all. We are down one point with 20 seconds to go and we decide to hold the ball for the final shot??? If we missed the shot being aggressive we can always foul and have an opportunity to tie or win the game in regulation. Instead Earl Watson stands at the top of the key and doesn't drive to the basket until he gets a screen with less than 10 seconds to go in the game. Damien Wilkins, who played horribly, inexplicably fell down and Udonis Haslem hustled on the floor to force a jump ball. Damien Wilkins then had a chance to redeem himself but instead bricked a wide open 3 that could have sent the game into overtime. Bob Hill did a very poor job with rotations and clock management. Danny Fortson played well enough to have an opportunity to stay in the game in the second quarter and portions of the fourth quarter. He controlled his temper and he made some timely buckets (along with setting up his teammates with physical screens). Luke Ridnour could have played along side of Earl Watson late in the game to force Miami to be even more cognicent of Seattle's running game. Damien Wilkins was in the game to slow down Wade but I'd much rather see Earl Watson on him because it is not as if Wade would be using his height advantage against Earl. Earl is quicker defensively and could have forced Wade into more difficult shots. As it stood all Wilkins did was turn the ball over and put Wade on the line. Is this game Ray Allen's fault? No. But I am sick to death about how clutch Ray Allen is or how much he is a franchise player when more often than not when he has an opportunity to take the reigns of this team and lead them to victory he fails. He is a defensive liability and it is very difficult for him to generate his own offense off of the dribble. He is unquestionably our best player but I am never going to look at him as one of the upper echelon stars in this league because of the fact that he is unreliable in terms of his defensive intensity and his shot selection (and he rarely gets his teammates involved as well). If he makes his free throws we win this game, period. Hopefully Fortson can continue to get himself back into shape so that we have some sort of interior presence this season. At this point all I am seeing is transition lay ups and jump shots and in the half court an occasional post up from Sweet Lew, otherwise a jump shot from one of our perimeter players. With Robert Swift's injury we do not have the balance that I was hoping for on our frontline.
We could be 4-0, but instead we've dropped three games in the last few minutes that we could/could have won. In those three Ray has been outplayed by a rookie, gone scoreless in the last and missed two crucial FTs. I can see Shiek's point to an extent. I do believe he's got enough credits in the bank in a Sonics uniform though, and there are still 78 games left to prove his class.
I will only concede that this season Ray has failed to be clutch, he has proved to be clutch in previous seasons, and 4 games does not seem a valid statistical sample base. Was his shot off last night (I had radio only in Dallas last night) or was it just Wade and Payton guarding him that had him off? He has shot has seemed a little funky since the season started though it looked fine in preseason.
Interesting in the post game Bob Hill says that this team is afraid to win--but yet if he hadn't gotten hit with a meaningless technical in the fourth it may have helped us secure a victory. Say what you wanted about Bob Weiss, but I don't think that Bob Hill has done much to match or surpass Weiss' success as a coach, other than be a little more harsh with his criticism in the media. I am very pleased with the effort of Earl Watson, Luke Ridnour, and Rashard Lewis. Ray will eventually become a better player in the fourth quarter but for all of the talk about Hill developing young players in the case of Johan, Wilcox, Gelabale, and Sene I just haven't seen it. Maybe I am just an eternal pessimist but what has Bob Hill done to make anyone feel comfortable that we have the right man heading this ship?
