Preview Details: Who: <font color="SeaGreen">Seattle Sonics</font> (11-12) vs <font color="DarkSlateGray">San Antonio Spurs</font>(17-10) Where: Key Arena When: Fri, Dec 19th, 7:30pm TV: KONG, ESPN Projected Lineups: <font color="SeaGreen">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/Calvin Booth/Vitaly Potapenko Coached by Nate McMillan <font color="DarkSlateGray">San Antonio</font> PG: Tony Parker/Jason Hart/Anthony Carter SG: Emanuel Ginobili/Ron Mercer SF: Bruce Bowen/Hedo Turkoglu/Ron Mercer PF: Tim Duncan/Robert Horry C: Rasho Nesterovic/Kevin Willis Coached by Greg Popovich <font color="SeaGreen">Sonic Injury List:</font> Ray Allen: ankle, back in practice. Nick Collison: shoulder, season. <font color="DarkSlateGray">Spur Injury List</font> Sean Marks: left patellar tendinitis, on IL. Alex Garcia: left foot, on IL. Malik Rose: right peroneal tendon, unavailable. Analysis: These two come in with vastly contrasting fortunes. Seattle have lost the last two, both by a single point and both by plays in the dying seconds. They look shattered at the moment, and this is only the first of a back to back set concluding with the Nuggets in Denver. San Antonio on the other hand come into this game, on National TV, on an 8 game winning streak. Star Tim Duncan is getting back into MVP form, and the team is starting to gel and look like contenders, not pretenders. Only a brave man would bet against the Spurs coming away with the win, but the Sonics usually play well when they get put on National TV. As per usual, Duncan holds all the cards in this one, though Seattle do get a break with Malik Rose being unavilable through injury, and another positive for the Sonics is that San Antonio are 1-7 on the road to Western opposition this season. <font size="4">"Being on the floor with my teammates was the greatest feeling in the world. When you're young, you hate practice. To be back practicing, I wouldn't trade that for the world."</font> - Seattle guard Ray Allen after returning to practice, after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to remove bone fragments in his ankle.. Key Factor: None other than reigning NBA 2-time MVP and NBA Champion, Tim Duncan. Who will he have to contend with? Vladimir Radmanovic? Calvin Booth? Jerome James? That's like Duncan having to contend with soup using a spoon. Seattle's perimeter players will have to double Duncan as soon as he gets it down low, and try and force the turnovers. Their level of defensive awareness will be put to the test two, as doubling Duncan will mean the Sonics' defenders will have to rotate quickly and smartly to avoid giving up open looks to the likes of Horry, Ginobili and Bowen. Key Matchup: Rashard Lewis vs Bruce Bowen If Seattlle win, Lewis needs to lead his team with a big game. He couldn't have picked a worse opponent either. teams know to stop Lewis you need to get in his face early and make him uncomfortable, and Bowen is a master at this. He will kick out, throw a knee or an elbow, scratch and dig into Rashard and try to put him right off his game early. Lewis needs to toughen up here, absorb the punishment and keep penetrating and putting the shots up. On the other end, Bowen doesn't do much except sit on the perimeter looking for the open shot, but Lewis can't afford to give him one because he will knock it down. San Antonio's man to foul, however. X-Factors: <font color="SeaGreen">Seattle</font> Luke Ridnour - is a master of changing the temp, and Seattle will need his energy off the bench in this one. Look for him to play the passing lanes and try and steal points in transition, especially to Lewis, who will be keen to avoid Bowen by running the floor hard on fast-breaks. <font color="DarkSlateGray">San Antonio</font> Rasho Nesterovic - hasn't been the player the Spurs thought they were getting, but is still capable of blocking shots, rebounding and making teams pay for focusing too much on Duncan. Will be happy to knock down medium range jumpers all night while Seattle are worrying about where Duncan will put his left foot.
Sorry mate, but the Spurs have hit their stride, and Seattle does not have any answer for Tim Duncan. Barry, Lewis, Radman, and Murray need to be on the ball, hitting their shots. Spurs by 3
Seattle cannot stop Duncan, which will be there downfall. San Antonio has finally started to click. The Sonics lack an inside presence to counter Duncan. Ultimetly, this will hurt them in their playoff chances as well. The West has gotten tougher. And bigger. Seattle has yet to acquire someone who can be a consistent threat inside. Collison was supposed to be that, but is gone for the season. Spurs should win, my guess is by 11. Rashard has to explode tonite for the Sonics to win.
Haha Dez, I like that soup analogy..... I used to love it when the games were on Kong AND ESPN, switiching between channels for fun. Anyway, the Sonics have a great chance at winning this game. For the past couple years the sonics have consistantly beaten the Lakers. They don't have an answer for Shaq, why should they need one for Duncan? However, last year we had Ray. This just means that we need Murray to step up on both ends of the court, mainly defensively. I'm gonna go with my hometown boys by 5.
What an ugly game. Duncan absolutely smashed us inside with a 27/20 line. He outscored the whole Sonics team in the first quarter too. Spurs had a 25-9 first, led by 24 in the third. Flip top scored for us with 15, and that pretty much says it all. Anyone else is free to do a re-cap, but this one was too ugly for me.
