Details: When: Thursday, May 12th Where: Key Arena, Sea-TOWN Time (Seattle): 7:30 P.M. TV: ESPN, Fox Sports (Seattle) Projected Starters: <font color="green">Seattle (0-2) </font> Luke Ridnour Ray Allen Rashard Lewis Reggie Evans Jerome James <font color="DarkSlateGray">San Antonio (2-0)</font> Tony Parker Brent Barry Bruce Bowen Tim Duncan Nazr Mohammed Injury Troubles: <font color="green">Seattle</font> Vlad Radmanovic: Sprained ankle, ruled out. <font color="navy"><font color="DarkSlateGray">San Antonio</font> </font> None. Brief Notes: <ul> [*]We're getting killed so far. This is a must win game. [/list] <ul> [*]Lets get the rally caps on. [/list]* Useful playoff stat of the day: <font face="arial"><font size="2"><font face="arial"><font size="2"> The Sonics have not lost three straight playoff games since 1998.</font></font></font></font> Quotable: " There are a lot of things. Their guards scored in the paint, the bigs, and they scored in transition. There?s a lot to stop." - Nick Collison stating the obvious about the Spurs defense. Random Family Guy Quote Chris: "I don't have to listen to you! You're a dog! You don't have a soul!" Brian: "Ouch..." All predictions, analysis and discussion relating directly to the game, both before, during and after, to be posted in this thread.
Some thoughts: Tim Duncan gets so many fouls called his way...NBA refs are a joke. Tony Parker is a great basketball player. EDIT: @ the BULL**** chant.
Wow, we escaped with that, but at least we have the chance to tie it up. The Spurs chucked that away with their freethrow shooting, but at the same time we hit our freebies, and that was the difference. Nick Collison is becoming a super basketball player.
A great game, even though it was just a one point game, a win is a win....JJ showed up, Nick played great, AD was aggressive taking the ball to the hoop, Nate made a great decision in putting in Wilkins and Vataly instead of Flip, which i thought he shoulda done in game 2....all in all a great effort by the supes
Awesome game. The refs really wanted to give it to the Spurs but we pulled it out. Nice to atleast be competitive now. Also good point by the last poster about going with Wilkens instead of Flip..very good move I think for Nate.
Great win for the Supes. I found out the magic formula, if I watch FSN live we win. I'm watching a bit of the ESPN replay and I find it hard to believe broadcasting can get any worse than Brent Musberger and Tom Tolbert.
Great win for the Supes. We finally got physical with the Spurs and it translated into miss shots both from the field and from the line down the stretch. It kind of felt like we stole the game, but in a must win situation you take what you can get. It's funny how this forum equates our winning with Nate keeping Flip sidelined. We won this game b/c we made a commitment to playing defense and to getting our bigs involved. I'm glad that Nate found some combinations that worked. But to say that the primary adjustment that he made to secure this win was keeping Flip on the pine is ascenine. The only reason why Flip got minutes in the first games was b/c we were getting our asses handed to us in the first half, w/ Tony Parker/Emanuel Ginobli getting whatever they wanted. Tonight those guys were put on their asses when they went to the hole and that is the reason why we found a way to pull this game out. 4 games to get 3. We still have hope, fam. For the record, Nate kind of overachieved in the spouse department.
Nice win for the Sonics, they did what they needed to do at home. James was an animal in that pick-and-roll. Allen was awful in the 4th quarter and his poor shooting could have cost them the game. He needs to shoot much better than that in order to win game 4. They also need to milk that James pick-and-roll until the Spurs can show they can stop it. Good luck to you guys!
Also noteworthy is a thank you to Rashard Lewis for getting off the court and letting Collision get back in the game...Collison much more useful in these playoffs then Lewis.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Coolguy777:</div><div class="quote_post">Also noteworthy is a thank you to Rashard Lewis for getting off the court and letting Collision get back in the game...Collison much more useful in these playoffs then Lewis.</div> I really hope it's injuries keeping Rashard from being effective, because throughout the playoffs he's played like a scared rookie, except for that one 2 minute stretch in the 4th quarter of Game 5 against Sac. I like Rashard but honestly it doesn't look like he's ready for the speed and intensity of playoff basketball, mentally or physically. Hell he has Brent Barry guarding him. Brent Barry. If he's got a bad wheel then I take some of this back, but right now it is very disappointing to see what he's doing out there. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting pwn3d!:</div><div class="quote_post">I listened to KJR, and can see why you all heap **** on Craig Ehlo. He is horrid.</div> My condolences. That being said it's preferable to being double-teamed by Brent and Horsehead. Example: In the first half when Danny laid the wood on Manu going to the hoop, Brent spooged all over himself talking about how tough and gritty Manu was for not reacting, 'no histrionics from this kid', how he was a 'true professional, folks', how 'this guy is something special'. And since ESPN chose to show the replay 4-5 times it gave Brent more opportunities to gush all over him. As I watched this at 1am in the morning I said out loud 'Get off his d**k, Brent' Anyway, back to the game: It's clear Bowen is deep in Ray's head. I saw Ray double pumping and twisting his body on his jumper trying to get away from Bowen, and trying to accentuate the contact he's been getting to draw a foul. SA does a great job showing on screens and sprinting back, and Bowen somehow can slide through them very well. It's a far cry from the unobstructed looks he was getting against Sac and whether the screeners really need to pop someone or slip the screen or something we have to counter that. Collison again is showing he knows how to play in big games, and just knows how to play, period. I don't know if it's because of his 4yr stint in college and all those Final Fours or he's just one of those guys that has 'it' (remains to be seen if Rashard has 'it') Lastly on defense I think we just do what we did last night: clog the lane, double Duncan, do your rotations and live with their outside shooting. If Brent Barry, Manu and Bowen hit their 3's then you take your hats off to them. Preferable to watching Tony Parker slicing and dicing his way to the hoop with no resistance. Next game is make or break the series - we'll have to play much better to win, we were fortunate they missed all those free throws.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Roland Hood:</div><div class="quote_post">I found out the magic formula, if I watch FSN live we win.</div> That is no joke. I've found that to be true as well. Plus when I saw that Tom Tolbert was doing the game on ESPN it made my decision that much easier. On a side note, Reggie needs to either start finishing near the basket, or kick the ball out when he gets offensive boards.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post">That is no joke. I've found that to be true as well. Plus when I saw that Tom Tolbert was doing the game on ESPN it made my decision that much easier. </div> Tom Tolbert is the worst sportscaster I've ever heard. He's overly confident in his invalid points and he has very very little knowledge of the game compared to some announcers. I will never watch a game on ESPN again.
