Details: When: Monday, November 30th Where: Rose Garden, Portland Time (Seattle): 7:00 TV: Fox Sports, League Pass Projected Starters: <font color="green">Seattle (13-2)</font> Luke Ridnour Ray Allen Rashard Lewis Reggie Evans Jerome James <font color="Red">Portland (7-6)</font> Damon Stoudamire Derek Anderson Shareef Abdur-Rahim Zach Randolph Theo Ratliff Injury Troubles: <font color="green">Seattle</font> Vitaly Potapenko: Broken hand, ruled out. Ibo Kutluay: Knee tendinitis, ruled out. Flip Murray: Quadricep strain, unlikely. <font color="Red">Portland</font> Richie Frahm: Sore toe, ruled out. Viktor Khryapa: Foot surgery, ruled out. Vladimir Stepania: Sore knee, ruled out. Brief Notes: <ul> [*]The top and bottom teams in the Northwest meet for the first of two match-ups this week, this one in Portland. With Portland at 7-6 and still on the bottom of the division, and Seattle own the NBA's best record at 13-2, making it the strongest division in the league. This is the first of a Northwest trifecta for the Sonics, who travel to Portland for this one (where they have lost their last four), and then back home for Utah and the Blazers once more, this time with the added advantage of being at the Key, where they are so far undefeated. [/list] <ul> [*]In-form Zach Randolph could be the first real brute force the Sonics have met in the paint this season. Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan are smarter around the hoop, but Randolph is arguably the strongest guy in the league not named Shaq (or Danny ) and will bullock his way to the basket if he is allowed good low post position. Danny Fortson's foul situation will be vital here. On the other side of the equation, Rashard Lewis has an advantage over Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who is a four playing out of position. While he should be able to score on the post against Lewis, Seattle will rather it goes inside to Reef than Randolph, and at the other end Lewis has an advantage in terms of perimeter play. [/list] <ul> [*]Ridnour Watch: Luke was superb against an in-form Jamaal Tinsley on Monday night, posting 13 points, eight assists and no turnovers in 33 minutes. Not only this, but he added yet another big basket to his 2004/05 portfolio, connecting on a clutch trey to hold off a late run from a gutsy Pacers side. In this one he comes up against crafty veteran Damon Stoudamire, who despite injuries and age, is still of the quickest point guards in the league. Backcourt mate Derek Anderson also assumes some of the ballhandling duties, similar to Ray Allen for the Sonics. [/list] All predictions, analysis and discussion relating directly to the game, both before, during and after, to be posted in this thread.
The Blazers always seem to have the Sonics' number at the Rose Garden. This is a different year though, and the Sonics are just playing better basketball than Portland. The key is containing Zach Randolph, so hopefully Fort is up for the task and doesn't take himself out of the game. I think the Sonics will win a close one.
I have a bad feeling about this one, i had a vision of damon stoudamire draining threes all night long and zach randolph killing us on the inside...LOL just kidding, the sonics will win by 6
Last year game at the Rose Garden in March was one of the best games I've seen in recent memory. The Blazers seem to be having some of the same problems that the Sonics had last year. This should be a very good test for the Sonics b/c I thinking that we are going to get an A effort from the Blazers tonight. Our bench production, like every other game, will be the key tonight. Sonics should win 93-88.
I have bad feeling myself (and I'm not kidding!). If we can contain some key players (Randolph, Stoudamire) then we should be OK. But otherwise......Portland by 3. (Hard to say so, but I'm really afraid )
Both McMillan and Cheeks are out of contract at the end of the season. At this point, who would have picked Cheeks to be the guy out of the two with his job in dispute?
Oh my God....Jerome James is having a MONSTER GAME!!! He dunked right on Ratliff! Add in some blocks too...
How many freaking times do Portland want to be at the line in that last quarter? Big choke there, and this one hurts. Hopefully it's just another glitch and Utah feel our wrath.
The bench didn't contribute enough in this one. Abdur-Rahim and Randolph are great. Lets take out Utah.
we allowed 38 pts in the 4th quarter, i'm sure that's not the type of defense nate mcmillan would like to see again...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting BODY_COUNT:</div><div class="quote_post">we allowed 38 pts in the 4th quarter, i'm sure that's not the type of defense nate mcmillan would like to see again...</div> Half of that would have been from the stripe, though. Once your that badly in foul trouble that early in the quarter, you can't get too aggressive defensively.
^ it's still bad D when you get in foul trouble early...i hope tonight against utah ray allen will have a big game, since kirilenko is out and we'll put the bad feeling from the blazers game behind...
