Details: When: Wednesday, December 1st Where: Key Arena, Seattle Time (Seattle): 7:00 TV: Fox Sports, League Pass Projected Starters: <font color="green">Seattle (13-3)</font> Luke Ridnour Ray Allen Rashard Lewis Reggie Evans Jerome James <font color="indigo">Utah (8-7)</font> Carlos Arroyo Gordon Giricek Matt Harpring Carlos Boozer Jarron Collins 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="indigo">Utah </font> Andrei Kirilenko: Sprained knee, ruled out. Curtis Borchardt: Foot, ruled out. Keith McLeod: Groin, Doubtful. Raul Lopez: Knee, ruled out. Aleksander Radojevic: Knee, ruled out. Kris Humphries: Knee, ruled out. Brief Notes: <ul> [*]The Sonics take on another new division (but also long-standing) rival, the Utah Jazz. Both teams will play in their second game in two days and both teams will try to rebound from losses. The Sonics fell to their neighbors to the south Portland, while Utah was stood up by the fast starting Phoenix Suns. Utah is reeling from injuries including a knee sprain that will sideline their All-Star small forward Andrei Kirilenko. With AK47 out of the picture, Rashard Lewis should seemingly have a big day over a smaller and less talented Matt Harpring. Carlos Boozer continues to be a presence inside, he averages a double-double and is currently the biggest threat in the post that the Jazz have. [/list] <ul> [*]Danny Fortson was ejected from the game against the Trailblazers Tuesday night after a confrontation with Shareef Abdur-Rahim. The Supes were never the same and eventually collapsed and gave away the game. This magnified the importance of Danny Fortson in the lineup during the fourth quarter. Reggie Evans can not be looked upon to carry the entire load in the paint when it comes crunch time. He simply does not possess the same moves or instinct that Fort does. It will be imperitive for the Sonics' mad man in the middle to keep his aggressiveness at a safe level so that he is able to contribute like he has, but also to contribute when Seattle needs it the most. [/list] <ul> [*]Ridnour Watch: Luke was fantastic against the Blazers. He played the role of a point guard to a T, dishing out 10 assists and sinking 11 points to boot. "The Force" contained Damon Stoudamire very well, holding him to five points in 24 minutes on the floor. Luke took control in the few bright spots the Sonics had in the final quarter by making plays and setting up his teammates to keep them in the game. Ridnour will go head to head with Carlos Arroyo in this bout who is another up-and-coming point guard in the league. This should be an interesting matchup between the two as they both play similar roles to their teams. [/list]All predictions, analysis and discussion relating directly to the game, both before, during and after, to be posted in this thread.
After a couple of bad games for Ray Allen, I expect him to come big tonight. Kirilenko is out so Ray won't have a great defender on him. A must win for the sonics, two losses in a row might start a bad streak.
This is the Super Bowl for Nate McMillian. Nate always over coaches against the Jazz b/c of how much he respects Jerry Sloan's style of basketball. He has had numerous meltdowns on the sidelines during these games b/c of how the Sonics have been pushed around in their most recent matchups. The Jazz have been struggling ever since Arroyo has come off of the injured reserved list. I'm looking for the Jazz to give their best effort and really be extremely physical w/ the Sonics tonight. I hope that the Supes keep their composure and get back to playing as a unit rather than looking for a scapegoat.
This one went into OT. Seattle look like they're going to take it out, Radmanovic made a 28 foot 3pointer to send it into OT. Boozer and Okur are playing well for Utah, who were unlucky in the end.
A great win, a very important one. Utah is always tough to play against for the sonics, they play tough, hard-nosed basketball. Ray Allen started slowly but broke out in the second half of the game. 38 pts for jesus shuttlesworth, great play from antonio daniels and radman off the bench. once again, a great win...a loss would've totally killed the team's momentum...
damn, Sonics look nice, hopefully Jesus Shuttlesworth doesnt go "Buck Nutty" (as stuart scott would say) on the Blazers in the rematch
Ray Allen in a slump? HUGE win that. Down the stretch Okur and Boozer were literally hitting everything, but we hung in there, Vlad hit the clutch trey and in OT it was all Seattle. Consecutive double doubles now for Ridnour, who owned Arroyo, and it's no coincidence that our bench was significant in this one, after it was a non-factor in Portland. At 8-0 we have the best home record in the league, and SA (7-0) are the only other team to be undefeated at home this season.
that three made me love radmonovic. i think i'm in love with him. haha. that was a good game to watch, despite they made me felt disappointed in them a few times...
Not pertaining to the game, cause I didn't see it, but... I just wanted to say I love Ridnour's game. That's how a PG should play, IMO.
