Nice win against the Knicks. This game had all the makings of a typical Sonics collapse. The Sonics played well for 3 1/2 quarters and then the opposing team turns it on down the stretch and we run out of gas. Stephon Marbury looked like the Steph in Phoenix and NJ and every one of our possessions down the stretch were marathon possessions where we were shooting highly contested jump shots. The difference in this game was that we weren't running plays exclusively for Ray and Rashard down the stretch of the game. Petro made a jump hook, Nick Collison was involved in pick and rolls, Earl Watson was playing with confidence, Ray made some tough, tough shots, and Sweet Lew took it upon himself to shoot and make big baskets. His follow up tip off of the inbound lob was big and Ray made a great read on the break to hit a streaking Sweet Lew for a three. I was initially upset b/c it looked like Nick was open and Ray got caught in the air w/ no one to pass to. Steph went for the dagger, we got a huge rebound and the ball went into the right person's hands. I was surprised that Steph missed that last FT but overall we outplayed the Knicks and we deserved to win. I know that all of this means little considering the fact that we have almost no chance of making the playoffs, but if Sweet Lew can continue to play a huge part in some crunch time victories then it will make him feel more compelled to resign with the Supes this offseason. In my opinion that was the best coached game that Bob Hill has had all season. He penalized Danny for missing shootaround, he played Mike Wilks enough that Earl got his rest, he incorporated all players into the offense, and he made Eddy Curry give the ball up every time he touched. Coupled with the fact that we were making the Knicks earn their points at the line instead of giving up uncontested lay ups made us a tougher team on the interior. Glad to see that the Sonics are much more than Ray and Rashard. The more our secondary players are developed the better we will be in years to come.
It's got to be alarming that we can't seem to hold onto big second half leads - we've already dropped a lot of games this season that we should have won, epsecially on the road, and to me that's because we still don't have a reliable third option on offence. Against the Knicks it was Earl, but you can never be certain with this team that someone is going to pick up the slack when Ray and Rashard are being hounded. Good win nonetheless though, especially on the road, given they have been somewhat of a bogey team for us in recent times.
