Seattle (3) vs San Antonio (2): Official Game Four Thread

Details:

When: Sunday, May 15th
Where: Key Arena, Sea-TOWN
Time (Seattle): 4:00 P.M.
TV: ESPN, Fox Sports (Seattle)

Projected Starters:

<font color="green">Seattle (1-2)
</font>
Luke Ridnour
Ray Allen
Rashard Lewis*
Reggie Evans*
Jerome James

<font color="DarkSlateGray">San Antonio (2-1)</font>

Tony Parker
Brent Barry
Bruce Bowen
Tim Duncan
Nazr Mohammed

Injury Troubles:

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

*Reggie Evans: Back contusion, probable.
*Rashard Lewis: Sprained toe, questionable.
Vlad Radmanovic: Sprained ankle, ruled out.

<font color="navy"><font color="DarkSlateGray">San Antonio</font>
</font>
None.

Brief Notes:
<ul>
[*]Well well well. 2-1, with the chance to tie it up and really attack Game Five. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, as the Supes were let out of jail with some horrific freethrow shooting down the stretch from San Antonio. Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis did not score a point in the last period, but it was Antonio Daniels and Nick Collison (and a Tim Duncan miss on the buzzer) that got Seattle over the line by the barest of margins.
[/list]
<ul>
[*]Will Sweet Lew play? A sprained toe may not seem like much, but in a game such a basketball where so much emphasis is placed on footwork, it can be more troublesome than you think. Reggie Evans will suit up, no worries about that, but the Sonics need Rashard on the floor and deflecting some sort of attention away from Ray.
[/list]* Useful playoff stat of the day: <font face="arial"><font size="2"><font face="arial"><font size="2"> The Kings won game three also, but it was the Sonics who nicked Game Four on the road in the first round. Can they prevent San Antonio doing the same?</font></font></font></font>

Quotable: "I was so frustrated when I injured it and went back into the locker room. I was sitting there looking at my toe like, 'Damn, what else can it be? My freaking toe hurts.' " - Rashard Lewis on the current state of the stock market.

Random Family Guy Quote

Gepetto: Whoops, I dropped my glasses. (Bends down, backside facing Pinochio.) Oh, by the way Pinochio, there were some cookies missing from the jar. Uh, did you take them?
Pinochio: No, pa. I didn't.
Gepetto: Are you sure you didn't?
Pinochio: No, pa. I'd never lie to you.
Gepetto: Are you sure? I mean, you could lie to me. And who knows? You may even get away with it.

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

 

No Rashard tonight

Link

 

Nate's going with the three-guard line up, AD starting.

First possession was great; Ridnour stripped Parker, and James blocked Mohammed.

 

Nice start, up 28-26 after one, with Duncan hitting a three to end the scoring.

We've forced seven Spurs turnovers already, BGJ has three blocks.

 

I like how we're playing - hustling, attacking, scrapping. Ray's off to a nice start shooting.

Manu already has 3 or 4 flops lol

Collison and Fort are hitting the offensive boards hard. I mean they're getting a paw on almost every possesion.

We'll have to keep it up, Spurs look a bit flat and I expect Pop to rip into them if he hasn't already.

 

Damien Wilkins has been absolutely outstanding.

 

Manu Ginobili is ridiculous, he flops everytime he is near the ball. Hmph.

 

What a finish to the half.

Parker with a trey that rims in and out, and it got me a "Good golly miss molly!" from KC.

What about the heart of this team though? Spurs got within one, and we dragged it back out to six again, and kept it there.

Ray is on fire, and it is impossible to believe Damien Wilkins is an undrafted rookie.

 

Damien is playing great on defense with his hustle and quick hands.

And he hit a big 3 when SA drew to one.

Potapenko did a decent job on Timmy except if he's going to front there better be some help. Otherwise just grab him and send him to the line.

I'm watching TNT and decided I don't care for John Thompson much.

Like Kenny Smith said pick and roll pick and roll pick and roll the entire 2nd half.

 

Surely Duncan can't continue to hit his freethrows at this rate.

I am still putting up with Mr Ehlo unfortunately, but I'm managing to tune him out somewhat. KC is a God.

 

How about that local boy Luke Ridnour? The guy is playing like a man possessed...all I can say is finally.

 

7-7 for the quarter from Lukey.

We scored 18 of our last 20 times down the floor. 18 OF THE LAST 20! AGAINST THE SPURS!

DAMIEN WILKINS!!!

19 OF 21!

 

That ranks up there with the best Sonic wins of the past decade or more.

No Lewis, yet they played close to a flawless game of basketball. Intensity, defense, shooting, just unbelievable. 14/21 from the field in the third quarter, and every Spurs run was thwarted early.

We forced TWENTY-THREE turnovers! Wilkins with five steals, Ray gave Dog Bowen a towelling, and Luke's third period was just astonishing.

Bring on Game Five, FAM.

 

After watching most of the game I came up with a few of conclusions:

Damien Wilkins know's how to play basketball(defense)
The Sonics can beat the Spurs when they aren't 100% (atleast at home)
Tim Duncan is back (not good news)

 

At the end of the day, Tim Duncan couldn't beat us on his own. How often is he going to be that accurate from the line, also?

Stop the penetration and play physical. We did that, and Manu and TP were nowhere to be found when the game was hot.

 

It helped that the refs weren't giving Manu and Parker calls for acting like they were shot if somebody touched them. We needed people to step up, and the guards responded tonight.

I think Jerome will need to get back to his Sacramento form if we're going to win in San Antonio.

 

Normally I don't like to spam a link, but I can't resists.

http://spurstalk.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=2

Have a look at the reactions there - you'd think we were up 3-2 and coming back to the Key.

Don't click that link if you love Bones, though.

 

my respect for mcmillian as a coach and your team in general is growing. nice win

 

Nate coached a perfect game tonight.

 

Man and I thought we were tough on Ray:

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Barry was f****g putrid tonight but I agree, Parker shoulders more of the blame for this loss. He was totally outplayed by Luke f****g Ridnour. A f*****g 120 lb sophmore. As our starting pg and the guy who sets up our offense, his play is far more important than Barry's and he got totally punked.
</div>
Re: the game, its obviously a huge win for us. At worst we have a game 6 in Seattle and shoot for a 'throw it up for grabs' Game 7.

I think the Spurs came out flat, whether its because Rashard didn't play or whatever, and we came out with a lot of energy that we maintained throughout the game.

This could be a huge game for Luke, playing back to back series against Bibby and Parker and actually getting better and better.