Details: When: Friday, November 5th Where: Key Arena, Seattle Time: 7:30 TV: FSN, League Pass Projected Starters: <font color="green">Seattle</font> Luke Ridnour Ray Allen Rashard Lewis Vladimir Radmanovic Jerome James <font color="red">Atlanta</font> Kenny Anderson Boris Diaw Al Harrington Antoine Walker Peja Drobnjak Injury Troubles: <font color="green">Seattle</font> Vitaly Potapenko: Broken hand, ruled out. Ibo Kutluay: Knee tendinitis, ruled out. Flip Murray: Muscle strain, unlikely. Danny Fortson: Back spasms, questionable. <font color="red">Atlanta</font> Jason Collier: Bronchitis, ruled out. Donta Smith: Strained lower back, unlikely. Tony Delk: Sore knee, unlikely. Chris Crawford: Torn ACL, out for season. Brief Notes: <ul> [*]Last season, Atlanta ruined Seattle's perfect start with a victory at the Key. [/list] <ul> [*]Flip Murray looks to be out another week or so, while Danny Fortson missed the Sonics' opening night loss to the Clippers with back spasms. [/list] <ul> [*]New Hawks Antione Walker and Al Harrington form the core of Atlanta's offense, while rookies Josh Smith and Josh Childress are also dangerous. [/list] <ul> [*]Peja Drobnjak makes a return to Key Arena, and will likely start with Jason Collier ruled out with bronchitis. [/list] All predictions, analysis and discussion relating directly to the game, both before, during and after, to be posted in this thread.
I think that this game is as close to a must win game that Nate McMillian has ever had. Both of these teams lost by 30 on opening night against two lottery teams from a year ago. Atlanta has many new faces and a new coach while the Sonics are stuck w/ essentially the same roster as last season, sans Brent Barry. Fortson needs to get on the floor to provide some nastiness on the front line. Ridnour has to be able to contribute more than he did Wednesday night (0-8). Our defense couldn't have been worse against the Clippers. Hopefully Nate can make an adjustment where we can take away at least one of their scoring options. I'm very interested to see how the Supes come out in front of their home crowd. According to one Seattle newspaper there are still a ton of remaining seats left. Last game looked like a scrimmage b/c of Seattle's lack luster performance, and this game may have the same feel to it b/c of the lack of fan support. I predict that the Sonics will lose a tight game. W/o Flip and Fortson there will be absolutely no fire power coming off of the bench (I'm assuming that Radmanovic will start since he started the second half on Wednesday night). I don't think that Atlanta has tuned out their first year coach Mike Woodson. The Sonics really aren't responding to McMillian at all. I'm actually going to go on record and say that McMillian has lost this team already. If we have any chance of succeeding we need to fire him and give Duane Casey an opportunity to see what he can do.
Only positive I can think of is the entire Atlanta starting frontcourt of Drobnjak, Walker and Harrington, is more perimeter based. Against the Clippers, Brand and Wilcox did what they liked in the paint, but you can bet on Walker taking shots from the perimeter and Harrington and Peja relying more on the midrange J than post play. I agree that Vlad starts this one, Walker is a better match for him than someone who is primarily a post player. Ray needs to have a big game also, as chances are he'll be on an inexperienced defender, probably Diaw and Josh Smith.
Back on track with a 27 point win over the Hawks, 106-79. Ray came out firing, with 27 on 10-16 shooting, while Lewis continued his good start with 24, five boards and five blocks (career high?). Ridnour showed glimpses, with nine points and six dimes, while Jerome had four blocks and Reggie claimed 11 points and nine boards starting at the four. <font size="1">Boxscore courtesy of NBA.com.</font> It's only Atlanta granted, but it's good to shake off our season opener and begin the Key Arena season with a big win. Lewis has started the season well, despite injury concerns, so look for him to slump around late December through until early April. Hopefully Luke can get some confidence from performing on Kenny Anderson, who is obviously past it, but still a crafty NBA vet. Meanwhile, I could fart in this thread and no one else would be around to laugh and/or tell me I'm disgusting.
This game proves how deep the Sonics really are, and they didn't even have Flip. If Collison could get his head out of the ground, I'd be more confident that we'll match last year's win total. Right now, he's sitting back and watching instead of trying to impose his will. Random thoughts: Ray looks like he's toying with opponents. Rashard hustled a lot, but only when he had open lanes. If he ran more to create when nothing looks open, he might become that player everybody expected him to. His defense was also surprisingly good. Radman looked sharp, which was probably helped by the fact that he got to defend more on the perimeter instead of banging down inside a lot. Ridnour looks really good running the point, but he needs to become more consistent, especially getting his shot off. Fortson showed some flashes of offensive ability, mostly on the boards. I think somebody stole Antonio's passing ability. He missed at least three open guys that I saw. Swift looks so tense out on the floor...and I swear he's walking bowlegged. Josh Smith is weak sauce. He fell to the floor after hitting Swift...and after hitting Ridnour.
This team can only benefit from running a Memphis-esque system, where we just keep throwing everything at the opponents w/ quick rotations and playing to our strengths, which is pretty much run-and-gun. I could see us overachieving at that were the case.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Casual:</div><div class="quote_post"> Josh Smith is weak sauce. He fell to the floor after hitting Swift...and after hitting Ridnour.</div> Haha. I love it. Just for the record, Shard wanted us to draft him at 12.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Supersonic:</div><div class="quote_post">Do you think this is a problem, or just something that will be rectified naturally as he gets more confidence and more minutes? I would assume the latter?</div> I don't know at this point. I hope the latter, but he looks awfully quiet out there to me. He's too nice, too willing to sit back. Kind of like Luke last year.
Is it possible he doesn't have full confidence in his shoulders yet? Big man needs to throw it down, then he'll get rolling along...
Great win for the Supes. I'm glad that my prediction was wrong. I guess those guys pride were really hurt by their performance against the Clippers. Some people may argue that it is just the Hawks but w/ the Sonics, you have to be excited about all wins~especially ones w/ key guys on the sidelined with injuries. Playing againt the Spurs doesn't seem as scary as it did 24 hours ago. B/c the Sonics experienced success tonight, maybe they will be able to build on that and put together a good effort and game plan against the heavily favored Spurs (the best team in the league, hands down).
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Supersonic:</div><div class="quote_post"> Just for the record, Shard wanted us to draft him at 12. </div> Haha. Give 'em a break its only his 2nd game in the NBA. He still has some hops and athleticism...just needs some more balance apparently. As for the Sonics, great win for them. The team looked smooth all game, great play from the top two options. I'm disappointed in the play of Nick Collison though. He really needs to step up his game to live up to his lottery pick status. Especially since he was looked upon to make an impact right away. Nate has to feel better after the dismantling at Staples Center, hopefully the success continues.
it was a great game to watch...this fortson guy seems like he could really step it up and make sonics a better team...meanwhile, luke ridnour seems like hes gaining some self-esteem! yay. well, i hope ridnour gets more minutes out on the court...
