Details: When: Friday, January 14th Where: KeyArena, Seattle Time (Seattle): 7:30 TV: Fox Sports, League Pass Projected Starters: <font color="green">Seattle (25-9)</font> Luke Ridnour Ray Allen Rashard Lewis* Reggie Evans Jerome James <font color="navy">Golden State (11-25)</font> <font color="navy"> </font>Derek Fisher Speedy Claxton Mike Dunleavy Troy Murphy Clifford Robinson Injury Troubles: <font color="green">Seattle</font> Mateen Cleaves: Strained shoulder, ruled out. Casanova Swift: Strained hip, ruled out. Damien Wilkins: Knee tendinitis, ruled out. *Rashard Lewis: Quadricep contusion, Probable. <font color="navy">Golden State</font> Jason Richardson: Ankle, gametime decision. Dale Davis: Back soreness, ruled out. Eduardo Najera: Sore knee, ruled out. Brief Notes: <ul> [*]Seattle will try to regain some momentum with a home game against cellar dwellar Golden State. The Sonics recently split the two day double-header with the Los Angeles Clippers with star forward Rashard Lewis out with a quadricep contusion. 'Shard should make his triumphant return tonight and add a needed boost to this Sonics team. The bench played like starters in the absence of Lewis, especially a healthy "Serbing" from Vladimir Radmanovic. [/list] <ul> [*]Golden State's leading scorer Jason Richardson will most likely be out for this one with an ankle injury. The Warriors have struggled without J-Rich in the lineup, dropping their last seven games. The Sonics should be able to capitalize on the Warriors' seemingly downtrodden team with a win. [/list] <ul> [*]Help Out Tsunami Efforts: The Sonics are taking an active role to help support relief efforts in the areas effected by the massive tsunami that has claimed thousands of lives. The Supes have set up a website to get the loyal and caring Sonics fans involved. For more information or to make a donation Click Here. [/list] <ul> [*]Word of the day: affluent. Having a generously sufficient and typically increasing supply of material possessions [/list] <div align="center">"Ray Allen will be very affluent if he gets his $90 million contract. If he signs for what Seattle offers...he will still be very affluent."</div> <div align="center">Random Family Guy Quote </div> Peter: Lois, you've got a sick mind! Lois: Peter, I'm talking about making love. Peter: Oh, I thought you wanted us to murder the children and harvest their organs for beer money. All predictions, analysis and discussion relating directly to the game, both before, during and after, to be posted in this thread.
Huge game, this, and one we HAVE to win. If you want to play postseason ball, home games against the clubs down the bottom are the ones you've gotta win. I don't think we can afford to drop games like these. Rashard loves playing Golden State too. I'm not sure how fit he is, but a reasonably big game from him would be more than handy. No Richardson just reinforces the point that while the Warriors will fight hard, this should be ours to lose (key would being should, not is). EDIT - More like a history of playing well against Jamison.
If evans is healthy and Shard is healthy then this should be an (relatively) easy W. my personal KEYS; Limit Murphy on the glass Frustrate Dunleavy Stay in front of Speedy Control tempo Run Put the ball in the basket...alot.
Luke's match-up on Speedy should be very good, as Speedy is obviously fast, but he has an underrated all around game and is a smart player. Should be a great duel at the point.
Golden State may very well be the worst franchise in all of sports. They haven't made it to the playoffs in eleven years. They haven't even been mediocre during this period. They've been terrible. Most fans don't even know what city the team plays in. Look at their draft picks over the past couple of seasons. Biedrins, Pietrus, Dunleavy, Welsch, Murphy, Richardson, Chris Porter, Vonteego Cummings, etc. They had Vince Carter and they traded him for Antawn Jamison. Now even though Jamison has been a productive pro, Carter could have brought life back to that city the same way he did when he began his career in Toronto. None of those players picked I would imagine will ever be All Star caliber. Look at the signings they have made. Antawn Jamison for 80 million dollars. Danny Fortson (who I love) for 40 million. Derek Fisher for 40 million. Adonal Foyle for 40 million. Are you kidding me? Why doesn't anyone ever talk about how poorly run the management of the Warriors are? I guess they are just that irrelevant. If the Sonics lose this game I'm going to be highly disappointed. The Warriors need to be demoted to the developmental league.
J-Rich and Pietrus were excellent picks in my mind. The Sonics should not lose and if they do I will be disappointed also.
Well, Luke got chopped by Speedy while on court, and Rashard didn't play, but we still pulled out the convincing win 103-84, after scores were level at half time. A shout-out to Flip, AD was moved into the starting line-up (with great success too), and Flip stepped into AD's role off the bench, posting 17 and six rebounds. Next up is Cleveland on Sunday, who will be near the end of a gruelling roadtrip and coming from Utah in the second game in two nights. PS - Just reading your post, Shiek, I'm sure you would have been amused by Bill Simmons' comments in his West preview before the season; he said Chris Mullin wins the award for "GM I'd most like to compete against in my fantasy league".
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">MURRAY BIDES TIME: Murray has played the past two games as the Sonics have looked to him for a boost from the bench, but he has yet to look like the one-on-one scoring demon he was for the first two months of last season. There's a reason for that: He's usually playing on the wing, instead of at point guard, which limits his time handling the ball. He made the only shot he took in Wednesday's loss after he was 1-for-5 shooting on Tuesday. He was asked if he still fits with the team. "Whatever team I'm on, I feel like I fit on that team," he said. "And like I said, I'm always going to be ready whenever it's my time to go out there and play. I'm going to be ready."</div> http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/basketball/207855_sonx14.html Ronald Murray -- 32 minutes, 8-13 from the field, 17 points, 6 boards I wonder if you have a picture or a caption for that Supersonic.
Ray is forcing stuff up. I have no idea how he ended up with 22 points. And his defense is just atrocious these days. It's time to have Nick post up on offense. He's ready, and without Rashard on the floor, he's obviously one of our best options to create a shot by posting up. I'd like to see Flip stop forcing shots. He shot well, but a lot of his attempts were tougher than they needed to be. I started tearing up again when Radman drove to the hoop, missed, and the Supes got two offensive rebounds before making a layup. Beautiful. I think some of the Sonics are starting to realize that if they move without the ball (novel concept, that), Luke will find them. Yeah, this was basically a scrimmage for the Sonics, good stuff.
I was at this game tonight. It was actually close for a long time, until the Warriors decided to start whining rather than playing. Fortson got into their heads, and grabbed a load of offensive rebounds along with Evans. Dunleavy started out HOT. I think he had something like 12 points in the first quarter. He cooled off though, and we ended up taking over in the 4th. Gotta love the Key Arena.
Dunleavy started hot because Ray was guarding him, since without Rashard we started out small. I was surprised we didn't start Vlad, though. He is capable of going with Dunleavy, and Ray on Fisher is definately to our advantage.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Casual:</div><div class="quote_post"> I'd like to see Flip stop forcing shots. He shot well, but a lot of his attempts were tougher than they needed to be.</div> There is a hater in every forum. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Many wonder why the Sonics don?t trade Murray, who does not seem to fit into their motion offense and who has not been able to find his niche so far this season. Murray, who scored 12.4 points a game last season, is averaging just 3.8 points and shooting 28 percent. But besides being insurance in case Ray Allen is not re-signed, Murray is capable of having games like he did Friday night. It can safely be said that Murray is partially responsible for winning two games this season, the other coming when he scored 15 points off the bench against the Nuggets on Dec. 22.</div> http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/sonic...p-4199840c.html Casual, you must be auditioning for the Tacoma News Tribune. They've been hating for two years.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Iron Shiek:</div><div class="quote_post">There is a hater in every forum.</div> ...and in this case, several.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Iron Shiek:</div><div class="quote_post">Casual, you must be auditioning for the Tacoma News Tribune. They've been hating for two years.</div> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">But besides being insurance in case Ray Allen is not re-signed, Murray is capable of having games like he did Friday night. It can safely be said that Murray is partially responsible for winning two games this season, the other coming when he scored 15 points off the bench against the Nuggets on Dec. 22. </div> Oh, such reckless hate!
Sonics outscored the Warriors bench 47-9, pretty damn impressive. However saying that they have been doing that to teams basically all season. Danny Fortson is such a beast off that Seattle bench. Dallas really did under-use this guy.
