Details: When: Tuesday, April 5th Where: Arco Arena, Arco, Sacramento Time (Seattle): 7:00 P.M. TV: Fox Sports, League Pass Projected Starters: <font color="green">Seattle (50-23) </font> Luke Ridnour Ray Allen Damien Wilkins Reggie Evans Jerome James <font color="Indigo">Sacramento (45-30)</font> Mike Bibby Cuttino Mobley Peja Stojakovic Kenny Thomas Brian Skinner Injury Troubles: <font color="green">Seattle</font> Mateen Cleaves: Sprained thumb, ruled out. Vladimir Radmanovic: Stress fracture in leg, ruled out. Rashard Lewis: Bruised foot, ruled out. <font color="Indigo"> Sacramento</font> Brad Miller: Broken leg, ruled out. Bobby Jackson: Ligament tear, fuled out. Brief Notes: <ul> [*]The Supes try to put a disappointing loss against the Warriors behind them as they make the short trip to Sacramento, aiming to sweep the Kings for the first time since 1995/96. While still ailing, the performance of Danny Fortson would have heartened management, as the sturdy one posted 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench. Ray Allen scored 27, but put up 15 treys in doing it. [/list] <ul> [*]Seattle are still a win and a Denver loss away from clinching the inaugral Northwest divisional championship. The Nuggets have won 17 of 19 games since George Karl took over from interim Michael Cooper. [/list] * Useful/less lyric of the day: <font face="Verdana"><font size="5"><font size="2"> You think that everything you've done's fantastic, your music's shyte, it keeps me up all night, up all night. -- Oasis, Married With Children.</font></font></font> Quotable: "I give a lot of credit to Flip and Damien for coming in and playing pretty well in place of Rashard and Vlade." - Ray Allen Random Family Guy Quote Lois: Brian, you're home early. What happened with your date? Brian: The same thing that always happens, she was an idiot. All predictions, analysis and discussion relating directly to the game, both before, during and after, to be posted in this thread.
I'm glad to see that Ray is giving credit to players that are behind him on the depth chart. It's going to be interesting to see the mental focus of this group tonight. We've said all of the right things in the papers, but w/ the assurances of getting the third seed in the West, I'm wondering if this group already has it mind set on the postseason. I think as soon as we clinch our playoff seed (3rd), you will get an opportunity to see Bobby Swift in action.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Iron Shiek:</div><div class="quote_post"> I think as soon as we clinch a playoff spot, you will get your opportunity to see Bobby Swift in action.</div> Playoff's were clinched a few games ago, so I assume you mean when they clinch the division (1 Denver loss or 2 sonic wins away). Bibby/Mobley could be a problem for our backcourt unless they decide to play defense tonight. Not having Christie on him should be a relief for Ray, Cat can play D, but he is usually thinking about his next wide open 3 when the other team has the ball. Without Miller or Webber the Supes could have an advantage down low. I think it will come down to Damien. If he can lock up Stojakovic and hold him at 15 or less while getting 15 or more himself it could be a clear W for the Supes. Reggie is facing Kenny Thomas...a smaller, better offensive version of Reggie himself. Reggie should just box him out and use his body to keep Kenny out of his comfort zone on offense. James should be able to post up on Skinner and get some easy dunks and hooks. That would help a LOT given the lack of scoring with Lew and Vlade out.
There goes my hope for a mistake free 2005 in this forum. I hope that Kings put their big line up on the court b/c we have a lot better chance exploiting our quickness advantage than we do taking advantage of our post up abilities. As much as I like Jerome, we seem to fair better when Nick is in the game. Nick isn't a consistent low post scorer yet, but he is excellent moving w/o the ball and provides mismatches for the other fives in the league. I think that the outcome of this game will be determined by how well our perimeter players play. If we can get 60 points from Luke, Ray, AD, and Flip we will definitely win this game.
If Mateen Cleaves was starting at Point Guard, the Sonics would win this game by 37 points. Since neither he nor Rashard Lewis will be in the line up, I believe that the Kings will win this game by 7.
