Preview Details: Who: <font color="DarkGreen">Seattle Sonics</font> (9-6) vs <font color="Navy">Indiana Pacers</font>(14-3) Where: Key Arena When: Fri, Dec 5th, 7:30pm TV: Kong Projected Lineups: <font color="DarkGreen">Seattle</font> PG: Antonio Daniels/Brent Barry/Luke Ridnour SG: Brent Barry/Ronald Murray/Richie Frahm SF: Rashard Lewis/Ansu Sesay/Vladimir Radmanovic PF: Vladimir Radmanovic/Reggie Evans/Vitaly Potapenko C: Jerome James/Vitaly Potapenko/Calvin Booth Coached by Nate McMillan <font color="Navy">Indiana</font> PG: Kenny Anderson/Anthony Johnson SG: Reggie Miller/Fred Jones SF: Ron Artest/Al Harrington/Austin Croshere PF: Jermaine O'Neal/Al Harrington C: Jeff Foster/Scot Pollard Coached by Rick Carlisle <font color="DarkGreen">Sonic Injury List:</font> Ray Allen: ankle, expected to miss 2 more weeks. Nick Collison: shoulder, season. <font color="Navy">Pacer Injury List</font> Jamaal Tinsley: sore back, on IL. Jonathan Bender: left knee surgery, on IL. James Jones, strained left hamstring, 2 weeks. Analysis: The East's best road team come against the West's best road team. The difference is Indiana can win at home and Seattle seemingly can't, which is why they won't mind travelling to the Key Arena for this one. Seattle have won two straight coming in, whilst Indiana come off an overtime home loss to the Blazers. These teams have already met once this season in Indiana, where the Pacers held firm with a big win. Ron Artest shut down Rashard Lewis then, can he do it again in Seattle? Key Factor: Seattle's centre rotation. Nate McMillan has taken to using Jerome James, Vitaly Potapenko and Calvin Booth in short bursts each. The last time these teams met this season Jeff Foster absolutely destroyed them, completely dominating the inside both offensively and defensively, thus ensuring Seattle couldn't focus primarily on Jermaine O'Neal. The Sonics' three centres will have to pay special attention to Foster, as he has a knack for getting key rebounds, in particular on the offensive end. Vladimir Radmanovic will also need help guarding O'Neal defensively, so James, Potapenko and Booth will have to play well. Key Matchup: Rashard Lewis vs Ron Artest A big key to Indiana winning the last match-up was Artest's job on Lewis, and the Pacers will be confident he can do it again. The form of Radmanovic ensures that Lewis will not have to dominate to get the win, but he is an integral part of offense and if Artest can get under his skin early it will be a huge bonus for Indiana. At the other end, Artest has become an offensive weapon too which means Lewis will have to have his concentration at a high level all game. Artest will stay very close to Lewis right from the start, getting in his ear and giving him no space at all to work. Lewis needs to drive at every opportunity, and hope that Artest respects this and gives him some space. X-Factors: <font color="DarkGreen">Seattle</font> Vitaly Potapenko - Has impressed McMillan of late with his hustle and heart, and toughness on the interior. With Foster usually effective against Seattle, Potapenko should see minutes here in trying to nullify his influence. He will also need to use his fouls smartly on O'Neal, as James and Booth to a lesser extent have a knack of picking up cheap fouls, something that they can't afford. <font color="Navy">Indiana</font> Scot Pollard - frustratingly inconsistent and seemingly sporting a new appearance every game, he can also be unpredictably effective on the glass. Pollard knows how to position himself for offensive boards, and with O'Neal and Foster the focus of Seattle's attentions, Pollard could slip under their guard and give the Pacers valuable second chance opportunities.
Artest is gonna have his way with Lewis on the peremiter, but in the post is where Artest is going to choke againt Shard. Reggie and Barry are gonna have to guard each other or this game is going to be a blow out. I think Radman/Jermaine will be a good match up. My predection Sonics by 7.. (YES IM BIASED AGAINST MY TEAMS SUE ME!!!)
Sorry mate, I have to go Pacers in this one. Artest and O'Neal are the kind of players I feel that could give the Sonics trouble because of how physical they are. Seattle could make it very interesting if someone gets hot though, which is always a chance.
Artest is not in this game...I think he's injured... the score is 96-87...1:17...Indiana Pacers vs. Seattle SuperSonics... We were up by one in the half...but Pacers--mainly Reggie Miller and & Jermaine Oneal are the key players of the defense...although the Sonics put down (at least 20-something free throws...), they yet have the underadvantage of the game...it's hard to tell what could happen... but even though my gut says Pacers is gunna win this. My heart wants the Sonics to win this...I know they could win this if it was a really good night on a with-Ray Allen basis...>.< also...no one on the Sonics has really high #'s...they're mostly doing well in rebounds... ~*Quyen*~
Who: Seattle Sonics (7-5) vs Indiana Pacers(8-6) <--that wasn't the standings for either teams... Sonics were 9-6...and now they're 9-7...and Indiana were 14-3...and now they're 15-3...so yeap. Just wanted to get you the correct info.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting anadagirlballer4strt:</div><div class="quote_post">Who: Seattle Sonics (7-5) vs Indiana Pacers(8-6) <--that wasn't the standings for either teams... Sonics were 9-6...and now they're 9-7...and Indiana were 14-3...and now they're 15-3...so yeap. Just wanted to get you the correct info.</div> I can explain that - I copied the template for my preview against Utah and changed the details for this game, but obviously forgot to do the standings. The Sonics were 7-5 and Utah 8-6 going into last week's game - my bad, i'll change that Thanks for pointing it out.
Seattle 94 Indiana 101 Third quarters just aren't Seattle's forte. Despite a 34-21 last quarter comeback, Indiana's 36-15 third period has set up a 7 point win the for the league's best road team, 101-94. The Sonics recieved a boost with the news defensive powerhouse Ron Artest was out through back spasms, but Al Harrington folled in with a double double and the Pacers didn't miss a beat. Jermaine O'Neal and Harrington scored 11 points apiece in the third, as the Pacers shot 16-21 for the period. For Seattle, it was a very even scoring effort with every player getting at least 5 points. Flip Murray led the team with 20 points in 27 minutes off the bench, and added 3 assists. Rashard Lewis shot poorly for his 12 points, but added 8 rebounds, 3 dimes and 3 blocked shots. Brent Barry had 9 points, and Richie Frahm and Vitaly Potapenko added 8 apiece. For the Pacers, it was their interior that did the damage. Jermaine O'Neal made 12 of his 22 shot attempts to finish with 30, and also had 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Al Harrington and Jeff Foster added 14 caroms apiece, Foster had 8 on the offensive end and Harrington added 18 points to that. Reggie Miller and former Sonic Kenny Anderson had 14 and 12 respectively, and Anderson added 5 assists. Seattle had 54 of their 94 points off the bench, which made up for a lacklustre showing from their starters. The Sonics had 25 fastbreak points to 5, made more freethrows and had less turnovers, but the big difference was the shooting of each team. Seattle shot only 41% from the field, while the Pacers were hot at 51%, and the game was decided in their smoking third quarter show. http://www.nba.com/games/20031205/INDSEA/boxscore.html Next game: @ Raptors, Sun Dec 7th, 1pm
