Seattle @ Philadelphia: Official Game Thread

good win for the sonics...I'm a little concerned that there will be nights when we won't make 18 three pointers and things might look different...the defense, or lack of, against memphis in the first half the other night won't let me get excited about how well the team is doing...still, I'm impressed by the way every player on the team has found a way to contribute...Ray Allen is a hell of a ball player, go sonics

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Ray Allen... the guy is amazing.</div>
He just knocked down shot after shot, he was AMAZING.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting BODY_COUNT:</div><div class="quote_post">good win for the sonics...I'm a little concerned that there will be nights when we won't make 18 three pointers and things might look different...the defense, or lack of, against memphis in the first half the other night won't let me get excited about how well the team is doing...still, I'm impressed by the way every player on the team has found a way to contribute...Ray Allen is a hell of a ball player, go sonics</div>

Thing is though, apart from the second quarter, Seattle defended well, it's just been buried under the fact they hit so many treys. Ridnour's hassling of Iverson forced him into a lot of jumpers, while the Sonics took control of the game by holding the Sixers to four points in an 11 minute stretch over the end of the third and start of the last periods, and a 26-9 run overall.

This season's Sonics team is still taking a lot of jumpers, but the difference is they're stopping teams in crucial situations on the defensive end (Ok, so we gave up a lot of points to Memphis, but we got a lot of stops in the last quarter).

Ray is an amazing shooter. It's not like Philly were giving him wide open looks; he was nailing them with a man in his face, off balance, without his feet set, you name it. Just an awesome display of pure shooting.

 

It's nights like these where I get embarssed to be a Sixers fan. I hate when they give up leads. *Sigh* What a waste of my $20! Oh well. I did meet some players lol so I guess that kept me in high spirits. But there's no excuse for Sixers not defending the 3.

 

Didn't have a chance to see the game yet, (I tape all the games I can't see) but I'm guessing that we shot the sh*t out of the ball. Ray continues to play at the top of his game, and Ridnour is developing a lot better than I would have suspected (you don't know how much that hurts me to say that~Casual).

It's an exciting time to be a Sonics fan.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Iron Shiek:</div><div class="quote_post">Didn't have a chance to see the game yet, (I tape all the games I can't see) but I'm guessing that we shot the sh*t out of the ball. Ray continues to play at the top of his game, and Ridnour is developing a lot better than I would have suspected (you don't know how much that hurts me to say that~Casual).

It's an exciting time to be a Sonics fan.</div>

Ha ha ha, at least you're not in denial.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Iron Shiek:</div><div class="quote_post">(you don't know how much that hurts me to say that~Casual).</div>

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Casual:</div><div class="quote_post">Ha ha ha, at least you're not in denial.</div>

I'm not in denial but I still think that Ridnour is one of the worst starting point guards in the league. As the Sonics continue to be successful (I'm hoping) the better the effort their opponents are going to give them.

I don't think that anyone really takes the Sonics seriously right now. Once that happens best believe they will try to exploit whomever they can in our rotation. The easy culprits are at the point guard and center positions.

We need more production from Jerome James, at least while Vitaly is out, b/c Danny Fortson is being targeted by the referees and fouling every 2 minutes. Antonio Daniels is playing out of his mind right now as is Reggie Evans. You can not expect this type of production from those two for 82 games. Ridnour is improving but he still needs to improve his shooting and his turnover ratio.

We have gotten off to fast starts for the past three seasons. This start feels different only b/c Danny Fortson brings a nastiness to our front line that we haven't seen since Kemp and aggressive undersized centers such as Terry Cummings, Frank Brickowski, and Michael Cage. We are beating teams w/ jump shots that may not go down as the defensive intensity of our opponents increase. I'm not trying to be a pessimist, but we are not even 1/10 of the way through the season. Also we are in the midst of the winning streak, which makes people forget that this Sonics team is playing in a fashion that I don't think that I've ever seen (total team harmony)

One thing that is bugging me is how is Flip going to be used once he is healthy. I don't want to throw off any of the positive things that we are doing and I don't think that Flip is the type of player who would disrupt the team's chemistry. That being said there is only one ball and a lot of people in their contract year. I guess that is why they pay Nate McMillian the big bucks.