Details: When: Tuesday, December 28th Where: Key Arena, Seattle Time (Seattle): 7:00 TV: Fox Sports, League Pass Projected Starters: <font color="green">Seattle (20-5)</font> Luke Ridnour Ray Allen Rashard Lewis Reggie Evans Jerome James <font color="Red">Philadelphia (</font><font color="Red">12-14</font><font color="Red">)</font> Allen Iverson Willie Green Andre Iguodala Kenny Thomas Samuel Dalembert Injury Troubles: <font color="green">Seattle</font> Antonio Daniels: Tonsilitis, Questionable. Mateen Cleaves: Strained shoulder, ruled out. Casanova Swift: Strained hip, ruled out. Damien Wilkins: Knee tendinitis, ruled out. <font color="Red">Philadelphia</font> Corliss Williamson: Family reasons; Questionable if he'll return tonight. Kedrick Brown: Strained lower back; ruled out. Glenn Robinson: Ankle tendinitis; ruled out. Brief Notes: <ul> [*]The Sonics will welcome Allen Iverson to the Key for the first time this season. AI has been tearing it up, averaging 29 points and 7 assists on the season including 28 and 6 last night at Portland. The Sixers also bring a couple young studs by the name of Andre Iguodala and a big man making a name for himself in Samuel Dalembert. Iguodala is an amazingly athletic G/F that should be an interesting assignment for any of the Sonics' small forwards. Dalembert is an impressive post player that should cause some problems for the Sonics' bigs in the paint. [/list] <ul> [*]The Sonics are fresh off a win at the Delta Center over division rival and old nemesis Utah. Rashard Lewis lead the team with 22 points and added 6 points and the bench contributed well as usual. Normally two games in two days would equal a tired squad but it is only the Sonics' third game in 11 days. Expect a Supes team as energized as ever in front of the home crowd. [/list] <ul> [*]All-Star Watch: Rashard is still not getting the respect he deserves from the fans as guys like Andrei Kirilenko, who has been hurt, are higher than him on the balloting. He should still receive plenty of votes from coaches. Ray Allen however is 4th in balloting for the Western Conference guards. Rashard continues to improve his stock while Ray Allen has seemed to be in sort of a "funk" at least for his standards. [/list]<div align="center"><u>Random Family Guy Quote</u></div> Brian: Oh my god. They ate Asian reporter Tricia Takanawa. Peter: Why? They're just gonna get hungry again in an hour. All predictions, analysis and discussion relating directly to the game, both before, during and after, to be posted in this thread.
Big game this. Iverson is in real form, but beating mid-table teams at home should be our bread and butter if we really do want to be a top team down the stretch. Although we will be fatigued after playing up in Utah. Iguodala will cause problems for whoever out of Lewis and Ray he guards.
Must win situation in home games! I hope Murray will bounce from his poor shooting in Utah and delivers when needed. Iverson will score his ~30 pts but when we can contain others then it should be ok!
Sixers will win this one,Im positive,If the Sixers lose Im gonna post atleast once per day for a week here.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Martin:</div><div class="quote_post">Sixers will win this one,Im positive,If the Sixers lose Im gonna post atleast once per day for a week here.</div> That's okay. Really.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Sixers will win this one,Im positive,If the Sixers lose Im gonna post atleast once per day for a week here.</div> lmao sure they are thats like saying the Suns are going to lose against the hornets my guess is the sonics are winning 103-73 and radmanovic will score at least 20 points
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting YugoRocketsfan:</div><div class="quote_post">lmao sure they are thats like saying the Suns are going to lose against the hornets my guess is the sonics are winning 103-73 and radmanovic will score at least 20 points</div> Whoa! Hold your horses! It would be great but we have to remain realistic!
Yeah Rad might get 12, but the big key is gonna be Ray Allen and Shard. They will (combined) get 40 points, 13 rebs. and 10 as. But, Alllen Iverson will drop 40 but not help out the team at all. Sonics win 100- 87
The 76ers are holding there own. Not sure if they will win, but there up by 12 in the fourth quarter. They have shown me something today. Win or lose. AI is shooting horrible, and the people I thought would be a liability for Seattle Evans and Fortson have stepped it up this game on the offensive end.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting YugoRocketsfan:</div><div class="quote_post">lmao sure they are thats like saying the Suns are going to lose against the hornets </div> Seems like the Suns lost to the Hornets Dunno why I was so sure about Sixers winning this one. Anyways great game from both sides
i think sonics couldve won this one if...not a lot of people fouled out *argh* yeah...good job to the sixers though. they really stepped up there game tonite...
Iverson did very well as he came out of his shooting slump. Finished 13-30 which is 43 percent. Not bad...I thought this game wasnt going to be pretty after Iverson went 1-8 in the first quarter. Others such as Willie Green and Kenny Thomas also stepped up and showed they could for once contribute. Iverson finished with 34/9/7 while Green amazingly put in 20. Nice effort by the Sonics though and a big effort coming from Ray Allen.
I'm beginning to believe that going small is the recipe for beating the Supes. Games we've lost (Portland game excluded), Boston twice, Phoenix, and Philadelphia (along w/ L.A. who isn't really a big team) all have presented different lineups that could not only match but often exceeded our own quickness. While we present match up problems for most teams we play, the matchups that we exploit are normally bigs who can't guard our forwards (Vlad, Shard). The only player who takes advantage of smaller guys watching him is Lewis. Conversely I think that our forwards have difficulty keeping up w/ other teams athletic forwards (Marion, Joe Johnson, Simmons, Iguadola, Tony Allen, Quentin Richardson, etc.). We are a quick team but there are teams that can match our quickness and our quicker than us. We have to start exploiting different matchups more often, ie go to our bigs in the post more. Flip could be playing better, too. Nothing to be too concerned over though.
Flip is still pulling the same stuff as last year, where he's dribbling up court and randomly loses the ball. It happens at least twice a game when he plays point for an extended period. Ray's jumpshot is off, he's not going straight up and down while shooting mid-range shots, instead fading away or going sideways. His ankle might still be bothering him. Antonio is really confusing me right now. The reason he was so effective in the beginning of the season was his offensive game and he seems to have stopped trying. He no longer takes anything but wide open jumpshots. And he can't pass. He seriously can't. Watch him run the offense sometimes, and you'll see him miss a ton of open players. If he doesn't get his offense going, Flip is going to take his minutes. The Sonics need their guards to get it rolling again, because it's the only way we can create offense. Ray and Antonio haven't looked the same for a while.
