<div align="center">I was bored so I figured I should do a preview since no one did one for the Utah game. @ <font size="4">Toronto Raptors (4-1) @ Seattle Supersonics (4-1)</font> <font size="4">Game Time: 10:30pm Location: KeyArena, Seattle Channel: TSN</font> <u>Projected Starting Lineup:</u> Rafer Alston / Jalen Rose / Vince Carter / Chris Bosh / Loren Woods Luke Ridnour / Ray Allen / Rashard Lewis / Reggie Evans / Jerome James <u>Injury Report:</u> <u>Toronto:</u> Donyell Marshall (most likely), Alvin Williams, & Pape Sow <u>Seattle:</u>Vitaly Potapenko, Ibo Kutluay, & Flip Murray</div> Game Notes: Seattle is on a hot streak right now. After losing their season opener, they have won 4 straight outscoring their opponents by an average of 22.5 points, and that's including their defeats against the Spurs, Nuggets, and Kings. This is not the Sonics that teams expected at the start of the season. Raptors did come off a great win against the Jazz, but this will be just as difficult, if not, more difficult. Keys to the Game: - Front court must play more physical. Reggie Evans and especially Danny Fortson are one of the main reasons for the Sonics early success. If they were able to man-handle the Webber/Miller duo, just think what they can do to the lanky Woods/Bosh duo. Add the whole Marshall injury to it and we're in really big trouble. Hopefully with Marshall gone , Moiso can come off the IL (although it probably won't make too much of a difference tonight). Bonner has been efficient so far and this is his time to step up. I'm also hoping Araujo can log in a lot of minutes to provide some much needed physical presence. - Vince and Jalen must step up their D. One of the reasons why these two sat out at the end of the game against Utah was because of their inability to make defensive stops (not so much Vince as it was Jalen though). They really need to step up because the Allen/Lewis combo is on fire right now (Ray w/ 24-5-3, & Shard w/ 24-6-1). I'm hoping MoPete gets the start instead of Jalen because he's too much of a liability on defense. - Vince must not get into a one-on-one match with Rashard Lewis. Last season Vince was visibly frustrated with his match-up against Shard. VC ended up jacking up shot after shot from the perimeter and got completely embarassed as Shard had his way with him throughout the whole game. VC must share the ball and not get caught up in the rivalry. - Give Bosh some touches. He may too weak to compete on the inside, but when it comes to athleticism, Bosh has the advantage. He should use his quickness and scoring ability to take it right at the Sonic front court. - Bench must come out strong again. Our bench has been pivitol to our early success and tonight we need an equal effort from them if we want to win. Dunksworth's prediction: Seeing how Seattle is on such a mean streak and has home court advantage, I can't see the Raptors coming out with a win on this one. If it wasn't for Marshall going down then I'd say we have a chance, but it doesn't seem like he'll be playing for the next few games. There are just too many factors going against us right now, but at the same time, I wouldn't be too surprised if we do win (we did after all, beat the Jazz and Pistons). Sonics 108 / Raptors 95
this is gonna be a high scoring affair for sure. should be a really fun game to watch. seattle seems to be a team that lives by the jumper and dies by the jumper. they've been living by it 4 games straight now, it seems its time for them to die by it. Raps are comming off a big win, and are rolling on with good confidence right now. Like the game vs. the Jazz, i really like how we match up with this team. id say we have the advantage at the point and the pf spot and are about even at sg, sf and center. Some would argue that rashard is better then jalen...some would say ray ray is better then vince...some would argue the opposite of that. its a pretty close match up...but we edge them out at the point and the pf spot. those all put together smells like another win for us. im gonna say raps 103 - sonics 98
If I were Sam Mitchell I would make sure that I feed Bosh and Woods the ball and get them off to a good start. I don't think Reggie Evans can handle Bosh and I'm pretty sure Woods will grab some offensive putbacks with his long arms. Carter and Rose need to bring it defensively. It could be argued that Lewis and Allen are the best duo in the NBA. Their shooting and driving has been a nightmare of opposing defences. If the Raps keep on shadowing their screens and maybe drop into a zone every now and then, they may be able to contain them. BTW watch out for Danny Fortson. Box this guy out, he can board the ball like a thicker Rodman. Raptors 101 Seattle 99
who's going to guard bosh? no one can guard him on that team, the kid needs to put up at least 20 shots, i predict he's going to get 30 points, set a career high
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting CourtVision:</div><div class="quote_post">BTW watch out for Danny Fortson. Box this guy out, he can board the ball like a thicker Rodman.</div> Some statistics on Danny: Currently, he is averaging a league leading 6.0 offensive boards a game in only 17.5 minutes, and one every 2.9 minutes. When he is on the floor, he grabs one in every three Seattle misses, and 35% of all rebounds at either end. Seattle also grab 50% of offensive rebounds in this time (meaning they get as many offensive boards and their opponents do defensive boards while Fortson is on the floor). He also gets to the freethrow line a lot because of this, and he makes his FTs. Once he gets his feet set, I would say Shaq is probably the only guy who could move him. However, the way to exploit him defensively is to keep active (something there is no doubt Bosh will do). He tends to get slack with his guarding in the search of the boards. Get active defensively, and you may also be able to catch a couple of offensive lane violations on him.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Supersonic:</div><div class="quote_post"> However, the way to exploit him defensively is to keep active (something there is no doubt Bosh will do). He tends to get slack with his guarding in the search of the boards. Get active defensively, and you may also be able to catch a couple of offensive lane violations on him.</div> i tell u what they are going to do, they are going to run him out of the building. loren woods, our new starting center has outrun yao ming and ben wallace already, i don't think danny fortson has the conditioning of b.wallace.
tough game to predict....i think the sonics are gunna come down hard from their streak and blow out of sac-town. Might take raptors to lightly. Besides, raptors ended Utah's streak..its only right they end the sonics and get going on one of their own. I'm predicting a horrible shooting affair by the sonics....sub 40%..maybe close to 35% and 31% from the three. I think they'll out rebound us...but it wont be enough to close the gap. raps 106 sonics 93
Whos gonna guard ray allen? Vince???, Whos gonna guard Rashard Lewis?? Jalen ??? hahaha...Remember Vince and RA have a past...hopefully VC gets motivated for this game...You have the leauges #1 duo, being covered by the 2 worst defensive players on the team...Sonics by 7...110-103
^^vince has actually been playing some solid D so far this season. hopefully he can step it up another level and keep ray at bay
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Supersonic:</div><div class="quote_post">Some statistics on Danny: Currently, he is averaging a league leading 6.0 offensive boards a game in only 17.5 minutes, and one every 2.9 minutes. When he is on the floor, he grabs one in every three Seattle misses, and 35% of all rebounds at either end. Seattle also grab 50% of offensive rebounds in this time (meaning they get as many offensive boards and their opponents do defensive boards while Fortson is on the floor). He also gets to the freethrow line a lot because of this, and he makes his FTs. Once he gets his feet set, I would say Shaq is probably the only guy who could move him. However, the way to exploit him defensively is to keep active (something there is no doubt Bosh will do). He tends to get slack with his guarding in the search of the boards. Get active defensively, and you may also be able to catch a couple of offensive lane violations on him.</div> Shaq and Jahidi White, Fortson is defiantely a beast though, he's so strong, and he has those long arms, he will kill the Raptors inside today because Bosh and Woods can't compete against those huge guys. Anyways, this is going ot be a shootout, I say Sonics 101 - Raptors 99 <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> ^^vince has actually been playing some solid D so far this season. hopefully he can step it up another level and keep ray at bay</div> So then Jalen would guard Rashard Lewis , that's a 30 point game for Rashard right there.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">So then Jalen would guard Rashard Lewis , that's a 30 point game for Rashard right there.</div> I'm hoping Mo gets lots of playing time, he seems to play well against Seattle. If he can get around 25 minutes, while guarding Shard for most of that time, I don't think Shard will go off completely. I think Bosh is going to exploit Seattles lack of quickness from their bigs, and end up scoring 22 for the Raps while grabbing 9 in a victory for the Raps, winning 103-96.
vince is a better defender than he gets credit for. sometimes he's lax but thats usually against the lesser names....he gets up for the big guys like ray, t-mac and kobe mo can check shard....i see him getting 28+ minutes
The Raps also have the advantage at point (Alston vs. Ridnour), so I'm hoping Skip can take it right at Ridnour and exploit the matchup. Don't get me wrong though, I think Luke is great, but he's not as experienced, so at this point, Alston is better. I'm hoping Bosh and Rafer will take care of most of the offense because I have a strong feeling that if we give it to Rose or Carter, they'd just end up jacking up shot after shot. They're going to take the whole Shard/Allen matchup too seriously and end up trying to do too much.
Ray and Rashard are not the league's #1 duo, but the Sonics will win a heart-breaker 95-92. Vince will have a another timid game.
RAPS WILL WIN BY 30 AND VINCE WILL SCORE 50!!!! .....i'm so sick of hearing stupid comments like that on msg boards Seriously though, i don't completely know what to expect from Danny Fortson. He might eat up the raps on the glass and when the sonics start getting on the offensive glass...that's just a scary team to play. I still have much faith in the Raps though and expect them to come out strong and pull out a close victory, 96-91 raps. I predict 22 pnts 5brds 5 assists vince; 20 pnts 12 brds bosh; 15 pnts 8 assists rafer
vince choked at the end this lady started cracking on him on espn news she was like hes not the same hes still vinsanity but all the money he lost to his lawyer he has some problems he should b the one taking the time off not artest
damn. tough loss to swallow honestly. few reasons why: vince had a wide open look to seal the deal and he air balled it vince had a chance to win it, and he drove but didnt stop and go up strong, he continued to fade away two free throws made instead of missed and we would have won jalen's play was infuriating. anybody remember in the 3rd quarter when he was just jaking up jumper after jumper...and bricking EVERY $&#@!*& one!!! MAAAN that as pissing me off. you could say right there that that cost us the game, because if he had just been patient and moved the ball around...or even posted up and kicked it out to someone for a decent look, we would have had a better look at a shot then the ugly, fade away contested jumpers that he was taking. GRRRR! jalen really pissed me off, and wasnt playing anything like he was the previous games (with the exception of the utah game) bosh with a solid solid game...happy bout that. bosh, rafer and bonner all playing well. man is bonner ever consistant with that jump shot. thats a good sign. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting thedude9990:</div><div class="quote_post">vince choked at the end this lady started cracking on him on espn news she was like hes not the same hes still vinsanity but all the money he lost to his lawyer he has some problems he should b the one taking the time off not artest</div> dude you need to learn how to use this button:
