Details: When: Wednesday, January 5th Where: TD Waterhouse Centre, Orlando Time (Seattle): 4:00 TV: Fox Sports, League Pass Projected Starters: <font color="green">Seattle (23-6)</font> Luke Ridnour Ray Allen Rashard Lewis Nick Collison Jerome James <font color="RoyalBlue">Orlando (15-14)</font> Steve Francis Cuttino Mobley Grant Hill Dwight Howard Tony Battie Injury Troubles: <font color="green">Seattle</font> Mateen Cleaves: Strained shoulder, ruled out. Casanova Swift: Strained hip, ruled out. Damien Wilkins: Knee tendinitis, ruled out. Reggie Evans: Stomach ailment, ruled out. <font color="RoyalBlue">Orlando</font> Michael Bradley: Strained hamstring, ruled out. Brandon Hunter: Hyperextended elbow, ruled out. Andrew DeClerq: Knee rehab, ruled out. Kelvin Cato: Ankle, Doubtful. Brief Notes: <ul> [*]Coming off a win over what many considered as the best team in the NBA in their home arena, the Sonics should be oozing with confidence. Ray Allen shot the lights out and gathered 35 points while Rashard Lewis put together a double-double. The Supes' bench was magnificent as usual with Danny Fortson and Vladimir Radmanovic combining for 27 points. Shaq and Wade got theirs but were not enough to stop the Sonics as a team. Orlando is fresh off a loss to the VC-less Toronto Raptors. [/list] <ul> [*]Sonics leading rebounder Reggie Evans will be out with an illness which should give guys like Nick Collison and Vitaly Potapenko some added minutes, especially if Danny Fortson gets in early foul trouble. The frontcourt will be dealing with rookie Dwight Howard and not-100-percent Kelvin Cato and should have an advantage despite Reggie sitting out. The Sonics' sweet soph Luke Ridnour will try to disarm Steve Francis' explosive offensive game and should prove to be a tough challenge. [/list] <ul> [*]All-Star Watch: There is no reason why Rashard shouldn't have another good game against the Magic. He will match up with crafty veteran Grant Hill but should have the advantage on both sides of the ball. Ray Allen will be looking to duplicate his hot night of shooting in South Florida with another in Central. [/list] <div align="center"><u>Random Family Guy Quote</u></div> Hotel manager: Open up or I'll hit you with this blunt instrument I use to hit dead-beats with bad credit cards. Well, it's not an instrument, it's more of an object, but it's blunt, hard and blunt, and well ... it's kinda like a bat. I found it out back one day when I was raking. All predictions, analysis and discussion relating directly to the game, both before, during and after, to be posted in this thread.
First time all season we've changed our starting line up. With Reggie Evans out I hope that Nate will go deeper into our bench and give some deserving players some minutes. This game is probably our toughest test defensively on the perimeter. Steve, Cat, and Hill all our very good w/ the ball and very aggressive. Will see how much Ridnour, Ray, and Shard have improved defensively tonight. Should be interesting.
sonics should win this one, unless steve or grant goes nuts....quick question for supersonic, are u really from australia? how are u watching sonics games so often? cuz i was in australia last year...and didnt think i would be able to catch a sonics game unless it was on Nation tv
We got dominated on the boards and Francis & Co. shot the lights out. Not to mention the bench scored only 13 points. Maybe this is the result of losing Reggie Evans and shaking up the starting lineup that Nate wanted to keep intact.
Somebody needs to do some stat-digging and find out what our record is when Vlad plays well and when he plays badly.
Hey, sometimes you need a rest when you spend all your time beating NBA elite such as Minnesota, Sacramento, Miami, and San Antonio. The Sonics seem to have a small weakness in underappreciating mediocre teams. But I'm sure you're all with me when I say I'd rather see an effort like this against a team like Orlando as opposed to a team like San Antonio.
No Evans, no Seattle Minnesota lost to the Bobcats, so at least we haven't lost any ground as Northwest leader. However, losing Evans really did mess up the rotation, it will be interesting to see if Collison gets the start against Washington. Best to strike this one from the memory, methinks, and a game against another in form team will really test our character tomorrow.
