Details: When: Wednesday, December 8th Where: SBC Center, San Antonio Time (Seattle): 5:30 TV: Fox Sports, League Pass Projected Starters: <font color="green">Seattle (15-3)</font> Luke Ridnour Ray Allen Rashard Lewis Reggie Evans Jerome James <font color="black">San Antonio (16-3) </font>Tony Parker Manu Ginobili Bruce Bowen Tim Duncan Rasho Nesterovic Injury Troubles: <font color="green">Seattle</font> Vitaly Potapenko: Broken hand, ruled out. Ibo Kutluay: Knee tendinitis, ruled out. Flip Murray: Quadricep strain, unlikely. Nick Collison: Knee, Questionable. <font color="black">San Antonio</font> Linton Johnson: Ankle, ruled out. Romain Sato: Knee, ruled out. Sean Marks: Back, ruled out. Brief Notes: <ul> [*]The Sonics enter San Antonio with a chip on their shoulder after beating the Spurs in their first meeting 113-94 whilst holding Tim Duncan to 17 points at KeyArena. The Spurs, however, have been deadly at home and are the only team in the NBA besides Seattle to own a perfect record in their hometown. Both teams are coming off double-digit victories, the Sonics took out the Blazers by ten and the Spurs defecated on Chicago 91-75. The Supes will face another tough road challenge following this game as they travel across Texas to battle the Dallas Mavericks. [/list] <ul> [*]Once again we get to witness the rivalry that is Ray Allen vs. Bruce Bowen. Last season Bowen and Allen took shots at eachother, Ray told the media that Bowen played "dirty defense" and that during a game he wanted to fight Bowen. Bowen of course denies playing dirty defense and alleges that it's just aggressive play. We'll see if Danny Fortson has some moments with Bruce in this game as well. [/list] <ul> [*]Ridnour Watch: Luke played some more superb defense against the Blazers, holding Damon Stoudamire to 4-14 shooting, picking up a steal and two blocks. Ridnour has been showing all the makings of a starting point guard this season by running the court and setting the team up for victory. L-Rid will have a tough time in this game though, he will have to match up against one of the league's best in Tony Parker. Parker is known for schooling Gary Payton every single time they faced eachother. In their last battle, Parker had 21 points and six assists while Luke was held to only two points and an indentical six assists. [/list]<div align="center"><u>Random Family Guy Quote</u></div> <div align="left">Dennis Miller: I don't wanna go on a RANT here but America's foreign policy makes about as much sense as Beowolf having sex with Robert Fulton at the first Battle of Antietam. I mean when a neo-conservative defenstrates it's like Raskalnakov filibuster dioxymonohydrostinate.</div> <div align="left"> </div> Peter: What the hell does RANT mean? All predictions, analysis and discussion relating directly to the game, both before, during and after, to be posted in this thread.
Heh, so that's what Peter's penis looks like. Toughest game yet, against a team that is probably in the richest vein of form in the NBA. There won't be any blowout victories here, and our chances of staying close depend a lot on Fortson staying out of foul trouble. In that case, we're rooted.
Going to be a good one, any chance I can copy this for the Spurs forum? would be good to get disussion in both forums.
I think it'll be a very close game. The Ray Allen / Bruce Bowen matchup will decide which way the game will go.
It's a conflictive night for me as I love Ray Allen to death. But my heart is owned by the Spurs, and as such, I will be cheering in the San Antonio corner tonight. Also in the suckage column: I have no league pass, and thus, no televised coverage of the game! Alas, I shall have to follow along on espn.com Guess I'll go against the grain and predict a 10+ point victory for San Antonio. This is a big game and I'm hoping something unexpected will happen. I know everything indicates a close game, but I'll do the wishful thinking thing.
Are you guys watching this????? Sonics up by 20 in the third and now their up by 5 with 3 mins to go. I'm pissed like I'm a fan of theirs. I hate to see a good team lose total composure. They (Sonics) are making the Spurs look like they should have won the last 10 championships. The Spurs are elite, but when you got them down and wondering....you jump on them. This is ludicris. 16 - 2 in the paint in the 3rd quarter
Shame on me, really. I'm such a jinxer. Bad performance for SA in the second. Bad peformance for SEA in the third. Close game indeed.
A win is a win, no matter how it comes, and the confidence already gained this season will be doubled by ending San Antonio's 22 match home unbeaten record. This team is a little bit special at the moment.
Wow. I mean damn. OK, I have never been a seattle fan in my life, never have i cared even a tiny bit about them. I was a huge Shawn Kemp fan back in the day, but that's it. I now believe. The win over San Antonio last night meant more in my eyes then any other game for them this season. Beating San Antonio, in San Antonio was impressive enough. They also topped 100 points against them. The only other team to do that this season? The last time Seattle played them. The most impressive part about this game for me was their poise down the strech. They built and lost a 20 point lead, and the Spurs got it down to a 2 point game. But Seattle held off. The Spurs made NUMEROUS runs and the crowd got really into it, but they somehow answered every run san antonio made at them. That's the sign of a good team. Very impressive. Having said that, my beloved Celtics will be in town in a couple days. We've beaten you once already this season, and we will have no mercy.
