Seattle (3) @ Sacramento (6): Official Game Three Thread

Details:

When: Friday, April 29th
Where: Arco Arena, Seattle
Time (Seattle): 7:30 P.M.
TV: ESPN, KONG

Projected Starters:

<font color="green">Seattle (2-0)
</font>
Luke Ridnour
Ray Allen
Rashard Lewis
Reggie Evans
Jerome James

<font color="navy">Sacramento (0-2)</font>

Mike Bibby
Cuttino Mobley
Peja Stojakovic
Kenny Thomas
Brad Miller

Injury Troubles:

<font color="green">Seattle</font>

None.

<font color="navy">Sacramento
</font>
None.

Brief Notes:
<ul>
[*]The Sonics held serve at home, now they need to try and snatch a game in Sacramento so they can close it out at home. Brad Miller is slowly regaining fitness, and their offense will revolve around him to try and get Big Game Jerome James, who is averaging 18 points and 12 boards so far in the series, in early foul trouble. Luke Ridnour and Antonio Daniels have done a good job harassing Mike Bibby for the first two games, but in front of one of the most intimidating crowds in the league, it will be extra tough to keep him down.

Seattle do not want to allow the series to be squared at 2-2.
[/list]
<ul>
[*]After giving up big leads at home, the Supes can't afford to drop their intensity if they get a lead on the road. It's all well and good dropping off a bit with a big lead on your own floor, but momentum is completely different for the team chasing when they have their home crowd cheering them on, particularly the ARCO faithful.
[/list]

* Useful playoff stat of the day: People have talked about Luke Ridnour's poor shooting in the playoffs, but in 58 minutes of court time, he has logged 10 assists and no turnovers.

Quotable: With a young team, sometimes they play a little looser because they don't mind making mistakes on the road. We play loose. We play aggressive. We take chances and we've been able to win ballgames -- Nate McMillan.

Random Family Guy Quote

Peter: You know what's funny? I always thought that dogs laid eggs, and I learned something today.

All predictions, analysis and discussion relating directly to the game, both before, during and after, to be posted in this thread.

 

After reading JJ's comments to Mobley, I hope he doesn't get cocky and start playing outside the offense. His success so far has been because he played IN the offense, if he starts trying to back up his words at the expense of the team, the Sonics will lose quickly.

I would love to see Luke knock down 2-3 of the shots he has missed in the first two games. That will throw kinks in the Kings adjustments.

I bet we see Lew get left alone more tonight and raise his scoring. I can't imagine Aldeman stays focused on Lew with Ray and JJ eating them alive the past two games.

Great article in the PI by David Locke on the coaching staff and what they bring to the series. Worth a read.

 

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/basketball/222123_locke29.html

A brilliant read.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Weiss discovered that budding superstar Dwyane Wade's ability to finish decreased enormously if he was forced to his left. Wade went 16 of 41 against Seattle this season as the Sonics beat the Miami Heat twice.</div>

I know what the stats say but this just seems odd to me since D. Wade killed us going to his left in the 4th in that game in Miami. And he loves to cross over right to left (even if it is a carry ). Ah well still a good article it just struck me as odd.

Re: tonights game, obviously going up 3-0 would be huge. Formula seems pretty standard - weather the initial energy from the raucous Arco crowd, get to the line, keep it tight and give yourself a chance to win.

I fully expect their shooters to look a lot more comfortable at home, especially Peja.

Luke and Rashard need to play a whole lot better. I have a feeling Ray is ready for a 40pt game. Sac doesn't really have the kind of defender that can bother his shot, the long armed, physical kind of guy. So even if they stay with him he can elevate and get a look.

If JJ has another 18-12 game I up my offer to 5yrs/60 million

 

They really miss Doug Christie. As good is Cat is on the offensive end, Ray is better offensively and if they put Maurice Evans onto him, then you lose Cat's offense with an inexperienced defender.

Add that to the fact Ray is pretty much unguardable with what he can hit when he's hot, they really miss that long, experienced defender at the two that Christie was.

 

Yep, Christie is exactly the kind of guy although I think he lost a stop defensively the last couple years.

Ray's been getting those 'plant both feet and raise up' jumpers quite a bit in this series with an unobstructed view of the rim. Give him that kind of look and a bit of a groove. That and worming his way into the lane and shrug the guy off for a 12 footer.

We're looking at 40 easy

 

I guess that qualifies as 'weathering the storm', down 21 and Ray brings us back to within striking distance.

Rashard really needs to get it going, he's playing like the Rashard of last year.

I hope the Kings feel disheartened with all that crowd energy and Bibby shooting very well and only up 9.

Beginning of the 3rd will be critical, I don't want to have to make another huge run going into the 4th.

I think our rebounding is pretty good, we need to take care of the ball.

 

ROFL at Howie on the sidelines after the Fortson block

 

These refs are ridiculous. They call ticky-tack fouls on the Sonics but AD's raping wasn't a foul?

 

Yeah Blaine Riechelt is especially bad. I think Adelman's whining about our physical play (going back to the regular season) is having an effect.

 

I'm not one to blame games on the refs but this game was officiated horribly.

Joe DeRosa has an agenda against Fortson. He called all but one foul on Fortson and gave him a technical for battling for position underneath the hoop. Wouldn't that be a personal foul? The Kings were in the penalty with seven minutes remaining in the fourth. That was no accident. Someone is going to get fined for criticizing the refs and my guess is that it'll be Fortson. Joe DeRosa has been targeting him all season (remember Portland @ Portland in early December?)

We couldn't defend worth a damn tonight either. 104 points should be enough to win a playoff game, especially considering that the Kings have no low post scoring threat. Kenny Thomas was beating us on penetration. As well as Big Game James played offensively he really hurt us on the defensive end tonight. They involved him in every one of their pick and rolls, our guards got rocked and Bibby and company got uncontested jump shots or driving lanes to the basket. He was a step slow all night rotating defensively and I attribute that to him being fatigued from playing more minutes than he is accustomed to. That is what keeping Fortson sidelined can do.

Nate has made zero adjustments thus far. The NBA is supposed to stand for Nothing But Adjustments in the playoffs but Nate refuses to budge. Sweet Lew is playing like he is f*cking sweet. Are you trying to tell me that he can't get post up position on Stojakovic? This dude is invisible unless we are calling plays for him and even when we do he ends up throwing up some junk. He was an All-Star this year, and he is playing like this in the playoffs. Nate has to go with a line up that can defend as well as score. Ray Allen and Jerome James are providing consistent offense. The Kings are refusing to double down on Jerome so I don't understand why we are not going to James at least once every three possessions. Instead we are getting contested jump shots from Luke, Shard, and Vlad, and none one of them are hitting anything.

Nate is a clown b/c he isn't prepared to sit a player in his rotation when they are not performing. Sweet Lew should not have played as many minutes as he did tonight. Neither should Luke or Vlad. AD gets a unwarranted technical and he doesn't come back in for the rest of the game. He was the only Sonic that was creating scoring opportunities for his teammates.

Game Four is huge b/c I'm not sure that we can return to Seattle and turn the light switch back on. The Kings are gaining momentum and it is up to our 12 guys to take the control of this series back.

Four games to get two. This is now a series.

 

I still dont understand why Luke is getting so many minutes.

This guy has played HORRIBLE ball for the last two months. I've watched every game. His shooting percentage is horrible, he seems to have lost all sense of timing and presence of mind, and it's having low turnovers isn't equating to a big assist number either.

The one glaring advantage the Kings have on us (especially now that someone decided to turn Jerome James into Kevin McHale) is the PG spot. And yet Nate plays Luke Ridnour, perhaps the only guard on the Sonics who is an absolute non-factor on the offensive end. AD needs to play big minutes, or even an experiment with Flip may produce results.

Wake up.

 

I'm watching this game on tape just now and those 1st quarter turnovers killed us! Damn 9 TO's in first quarter - that's bad - we just weren't ready to deal with such an agressive defense.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting tradebark:</div><div class="quote_post">I still dont understand why Luke is getting so many minutes.

This guy has played HORRIBLE ball for the last two months. I've watched every game. His shooting percentage is horrible, he seems to have lost all sense of timing and presence of mind, and it's having low turnovers isn't equating to a big assist number either.

The one glaring advantage the Kings have on us (especially now that someone decided to turn Jerome James into Kevin McHale) is the PG spot. And yet Nate plays Luke Ridnour, perhaps the only guard on the Sonics who is an absolute non-factor on the offensive end. AD needs to play big minutes, or even an experiment with Flip may produce results.

Wake up.</div>




Absolutely HAVE to be kidding me. Ridnour put up a good game last night and was all over the place on the defensive end of the court..and even scored some points...I dont know what your problem is. At this point I dont think even Shiek would suggest benching ridnour would be a smart thing to do. If you think hes played bad just because he hasnt scored extremley well you need to broaden your scope a little bit.

 

I take this to mean Rashard's not happy with his touches:

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Lewis left the arena last night visibly upset and declined to answer questions.

"I don't want to say anything to get me or anybody in trouble," Lewis said. "I don't want to upset whatever chemistry we got right now."
</div>

Maybe I'm just a negative guy.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Roland Hood:</div><div class="quote_post">I take this to mean Rashard's not happy with his touches:



Maybe I'm just a negative guy.</div>


thats what it sounded like to me as well. if we are correct in that assumption I think its ridicilous. He was unable to score and the baskets he did get came at the good grace of our other players attracting attention and getting him open baskets...he was able to convert and has no right to be mad at anyone but himself

 

Some of the Sonics are really showing me something right now. I've criticized Ray all season, but right now he's the only thing keeping the team afloat. I give him credit for stepping up his game and his leadership, even if it's not perfect.

Rashard is turning back into the player he was two years ago. He's lost all semblance of aggression and doesn't seem to want the ball anymore. With Vlad obviously not at 100%, he needs to call for the ball EVERY TIME down the floor.

I don't really have a problem with Luke. He's not shooting well and he could never finish at the rim (under the rim is more like it), but his defense has been good. I do agree with Shiek, AD needs more minutes because he's one of the only ones not intimidated by the playoff atmosphere.

Danny is trying, but with the amount of bad calls going against him, he can't concentrate on playing. Nick is having the same problem Luke did last year. He's too nice. He doesn't seem to realize that he's as good or better than just about everybody on the court. I'm not about to complain about Jerome James.

To summarize, the only ones who have stepped up their games to playoff level are Ray, AD, and Jerome. Which kind of makes sense considering our lack of experience. It just disappoints me to see a whole team shrink before the challenge of raising their game to a higher level.

 

double post

 

^Cant say i know what youre talking about.Seattle DOMINATED at home.Sonics absolutely stepped up for the playoffs in the first 2 games.Everyone seems really frustrated in here.Did you think you were going to sweep the Kings?Also Jerome James hasnt just stepped up hes transformed.

 

A lot to read about in the papers today. Rashard lewis bitching about not getting the ball. Which by the way I think its absolutely BS. He cant beat a double team and Jerome James was killing them...even got Lewis an open dunk and just because we lost he thinks he can whine like that was the reason we lost. Absolutely disappointed in him, and also in Ray Allen for doing his usual pointing at the coaching staff for problems.

Then to go along with that Rick Ademan has hit the papers bitching about the Sonics big men. Another absolutely hilarious thing. The guy that coached Vlade Divac for how many years complaining about flops?!? And actually complaining about Fortson is completely insane. Fortson walks on the court gets screwed repeately on calls last game and ol Rick bitches. Just gives me more and more reason why I have always hated the Kings.