Details: Who: Seattle Sonics (7-4) vs New Jersey Nets(5-7) Where: Key Arena When: Tues, Nov 25th, 7pm TV: Kong Projected Lineups: Seattle PG: Brent Barry/Antonio Daniels/Luke Ridnour SG: Ronald Murray/Brent Barry/Richie Frahm SF: Rashard Lewis/Ansu Sesay/Vladimir Radmanovic PF: Vladimir Radmanovic/Reggie Evans/Vitaly Potapenko C: Calvin Booth/Vitaly Potapenko/Jerome James Coached by Nate McMillan New Jersey PG: Jason Kidd/Robert Pack SG: Kerry Kittles/Zoran Planinic/Shane Battier SF: Richard Jefferson/Zoran Planinic/Rodney Rogers PF: Kenyon Martin/Rodney Rogers/Brian Scalabrine C: Jason Collins/Aaron Williams Coached by Byron Scott Sonic Injury List: Ray Allen: ankle, expected to miss 2-4 more weeks. Nick Collison: shoulder, season. Net Injury List Lucious Harris: on IL. Tamar Slay: on IL. Damone Brown: concussion, on IL. Analysis: Both teams come off close games; Seattle beat the Wizards by 3 and New Jersey lost to Toronto by the closest of margins. New Jersey come in with their roster weakened by injuries and the retirement of Alonzo Mourning, but at the same time will likely be determined to win one for him. The Sonics come in needing to work on their fourth quarter play, after big leads have evaporated against Memphis and Washington. Against the Wizards they were lucky, against Memphis they weren't, and they can't afford to stall against any team led by Jason Kidd. Key Factor: Can Brent Barry stop Jason Kidd? Seattle have more firepower and more scorers in this match-up, but as always Jason Kidd has the ability to makes anyone a scorer. Murray, Radmanovic and Lewis are all coming off 20 point games, but at the same time the Sonics will not want to get into a shootout with a Kidd led team. Richard Jefferson and Kenyon Martin immediately become much more potent when Kidd is on the floor, so containing Kidd is the key for Seattle in this one. Making him run on his sore knee will be a priority. Key Matchup: Brent Barry vs Jason Kidd Barry does not have the defensive capabilities to stop Kidd, but he does have the offensive abilities to have a similar impact on the other end. Barry uses his long arms to disrupt the other point guard and will need to get right in Kidd's face on the defensive end of the floor. Offensively, Barry is a very good passer and possesses excellent court vision. Seattle will have to run the floor well and allow Barry to take advantage of this and set up quick baskets. This will also mean Kidd has to move quickly on defense, which is what he won't want on a bad knee. X-Factors: New Jersey Aaron Williams - Played for Seattle early in his career, and is a real presence off the bench. Seattle's only tough bodied interior player is Reggie Evans, so the Nets will look for Williams to control the boards and score quick baskets down low when he comes into the game. Capable of scoring in bunchs, Williams is also an able interior defender and should see plenty of time against Seattle. Seattle Reggie Evans - With Kenyon Martin in excellent early season form, Evans' role will be important. 'The Collector' will be called upon to defend Martin down low, and will also need to curb Martin and Williams' influence on the boards. Leads Seattle in rebounding, but it's his pesky pressure defense and energy that will be needed on Martin this this one.
Go Sonics! I hope K-Mart and R-Jeff go out to grab a bite to eat before the game and suffer from food poisoning.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rudeezy:</div><div class="quote_post">Even good teams have bad games...</div> So true, I just don't wanna go throuhg the stats again, haha. I broke stuff watching the game by throwing it at the TV :thumbsdow
