<div align="center"><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%"> @ </span> Venue: Pepsi Center, Denver, CO National TV: NBALPTime: 09:00 pm ESTDate: Friday, 24 March 2006 ---</div><span style="color:darkgreen"><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%">Seattle Sonics (27-40)</span></span>Projected starters<span style="color:darkgreen">PG: Luke RidnourSG: Ray Allen SF: Rashard LewisPF: Chris WilcoxC: Johan Petro</span>Sixth man: <span style="color:darkgreen">Earl Watson</span>Coach: <span style="color:darkgreen">Bob Hill</span>---<span style="color:royalblue"><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%">Denver Nuggets (39-30)</span></span>Projected starters<span style="color:royalblue">PG: Andre MillerSG: Ruben PattersonSF: Carmelo AnthonyPF: Kenyon MartinC: Marcus Camby</span>Sixth man: <span style="color:royalblue">Reggie Evans</span>Coach: <span style="color:royalblue">George Karl</span>---Nuggets' previous game (vs. Spurs)The Spurs were in their first of a 5-game road trip. Anyone would expect them to start strong to get a comfortable lead fast and get a W here... but instead they fell behind by as many as 16 early in the third quarter. However, they managed to claw back and take a 2-pt lead late in the quarter behind Manu's one-man show. After scoring 16 pts in the first half, Melo only scored 4 in the third quarter, mainly because of the arguably best on-ball defender Bruce Bowen's D. But with Bowen headed back to the bench early in the final quarter due to a foul trouble, Melo took advantage by scoring 12 in the quarter, mostly on 20 footers to extend a 2 pt lead further. Andre Miller had 15 pts and 7 assists, including 3 straight baskets for us early in the final quarter to keep us in the game, which we finally won. Also, we held a season-high rebounding margin (a staggering 31 rebounds) by outrebounding them 58-27 :rock: vs. SonicsThis is the first meeting between the teams since the four-way trade that saw our former third-string PG Watson going to Seattle and Evans coming to Denver. As reported by DenverPost.com, Evans is anxious to face his former team. Nothing personal against his former teammates, but only the management and coaching staff. He averaged career bests in points (4.9), rebounds (9.3) and minutes (23.8) last season and started 23 of 30 games before the SuperSonics fired coach Bob Weiss on Jan. 3 and replaced him with assistant Bob Hill, who reduced his playing time to 10 minutes or less most games. He did not appear in eight of 15 games. He also told former Blazer forward Patterson to back him up in this game, and then he will return the favor when the Nuggets face the Blazers on April 10. And I have to say, watch out for Chris Wilcox! It seems like he's growing into a solid interior player, and possibly could be a star withing 2 years of consistent playing time. He dropped a career high 30 pts and 14 rebounds against Milwaukee two nights ago, and averages 14.1 ppg, 7.2 rpg on 62.1% shooting. He has matched the 90 field goals he had made as a Clipper in 48 games as a Sonic in only 15 games. It seems like he's an integral part of the system now, and he should take advantage by continuing playing well. K-Mart should be able to neutralise Wilcox somewhat, but if he doesn't play tonight, then we'll have to rely on Evans or Elson to do the job. I think they can because they're physical defenders, and it remains to be seen if Wilcox can drive into the paint and flush like he did on Mihm on these guys. We'll again see how much help Patterson can give us on the perimeter shooting defense. We have Allen, Lewis, and Watson to worry about. We need to keep rebounding well and pushing the pace. I don't think they can do much defensively when we get out on a fastbreak. We also need to hit shots. <span style="font-size:24pt;line-height:100%"><span style="color:red">+</span></span> Nene out for the year... Boykins out indefinitely with fractured left hand... K-Mart, Najera probable. Closing comments and predictionsI predict we win the game, 110-95. :beerchug:
