Preview Details: Who: <font color="SeaGreen">Seattle Sonics</font> (10-10) vs <font color="Indigo">Milwaukee Bucks</font>(11-12) Where: Key Arena When: Sun, Dec 14th, 12:30pm TV: None Projected Lineups: <font color="SeaGreen">Seattle</font> PG: Antonio Daniels/Brent Barry/Luke Ridnour* SG: Brent Barry/Ronald Murray/Richie Frahm SF: Rashard Lewis/Ansu Sesay/Vladimir Radmanovic PF: Vladimir Radmanovic*/Reggie Evans/Vitaly Potapenko C: Jerome James/Calvin Booth/Vitaly Potapenko Coached by Nate McMillan *Both Radmanovic and Ridnour will be gametime decisions. <font color="Indigo">Milwaukee</font> PG: TJ Ford/Damon Jones SG: Michael Redd/Erick Strickland SF: Desmond Mason/Michael Redd PF: Joe Smith/Dan Langhi C: Daniel Santiago/Dan Gadzuric/Joel Przybilla Coached by Terry Porter <font color="SeaGreen">Sonic Injury List:</font> Ray Allen: ankle, expected to miss 1 more week. Nick Collison: shoulder, season. <font color="Indigo">Buck Injury List</font> Toni Kukoc: on IL. Brian Skinner: on IL. Tim Thomas: unconfirmed. Analysis: Seattle will be glad to return home after a near disasterous roadtrip, avoiding an 0-4 mark with a big win in Detroit on Friday. Milwaukee are no strangers to losing at Key Arena, losing twelve of their last 14 visits, and come in weakened with injuries to Toni Kukoc, Tim Thomas and Brian Skinner. Seattle on the other hand played flawless basketball against the Pistons, and will be looking to continue to cure their defensive woes by shutting down in form Bucks Michael Redd and Desmond Mason. Redd is having an All-Star year, whilst Mason comes off a 21, 11 and 7 effort against the Bulls. <font size="4">"I could tell with some guys, it was wearing on them. Nate (McMillan, coach) gets a little more intense. For the most part, everybody just wanted to get one win on this road trip to kind of put a Band-Aid on the gaping wound that we have right now"</font> - Seattle center Jerome James after the win in Detroit on Friday. Key Factor: The Sonics cannot relax one bit after getting home, and the key is to keep the intensity up that they showed against the Pistons. Milwaukee may seem like a lesser team to most, but they have a collection of guys that can be dangerous if they get going. Michael Redd is one of the best guards in the entire league at the moment, and pressuring him on the perimeter is essential. Desmond Mason can be played for the drive on the perimeter, but his midrange game is improving. Dan Gadzuric and Joe Smith are also quietly effective, so the Sonics will have to make sure they stay focused for the full 48 minutes in this one. Key Matchup: Rashard Lewis vs Desmond Mason A fairytale match-up if there ever was one. Both close friends and once considered the cornerstones of this Seattle franchise, this is a mouthwatering match-up. Lewis had by far the best of their earlier contest this season, posting 31 and 9 while Mason shot badly and got into foul trouble, but since stepping into the starting line-up for injured Tim Thomas, Mason has been the Bucks' go-to guy behind Redd. Lewis had a return to form with 33 against the Pistons, and Mason will have to play him close from the start, and make as much contact as possible. At the other end, Lewis will have to be sure to box out, as Mason has a knack for grabbing offensive boards. His jumper isn't great, but it's good enough that Lewis can't disrespect it and give too much room. X-Factors: <font color="SeaGreen">Seattle</font> Ronald Murray - Redd may have a quick release and the ability to score points in clutch, but Murray has a similar sort of game. Averaging 19 on the season and still scoring big off the bench, Murray will be the guy in the last quarter to help Seattle if they're behind or leading narrowly. <font color="Indigo">Milwaukee</font> Damon Jones - One of the best back-up point guards in the NBA currently, Jones is coming fresh off a 13 point last quarter against the Bulls, and 22 and 9 dimes overall. Dangerous from the perimeter, look for Jones to see time in the final quarter if it's close.
Bucks are beating Sonics at the half. 61-57... Sonics were down by up to 15 (I think?) & now caught up in the half. I think they'll beat the Bucks...
Seattle 108 Milwaukee 102 Seattle have used an even scoring spread and a great middle two periods to recover from losing Rashard Lewis to injury and get over Desmond Mason and Milwaukee, 108-102. The Sonics gave up 39 and a 16 point deficit in a disasterous first period, but rallied back behind a career game from Richie Frahm and seven players in double figures, posting a 60-41 spread over the second and third periods. Lewis left the game in the third with a shoulder injury, and did not come back. For the Sonics, once again Flip Murray led the show from the bench, registering 23 points. Frahm added a career high 17 on 7 of 11 shooting, whilst Vladimir Radmanovic had 17. Luke Ridnour was efficient with 14, 3 and 3, while Antonio daniels posted his first career Sonic double-double with 11 points and 10 assists. Jerome James and Lewis added 10 points each, Lewis adding 4 and rebounds and 4 steals, while Calvin Booth blocked 4 shots off the pine. For the Bucks, it was again the Michael Redd show. Redd posted 27 and 6, while rookie TJ Ford was perilously close to a triple double with 17, 8 and 9. The return of Tim Thomas yielded 19 points (16 in the first half) and Desmond Mason had a slightlier happier homecoming with 14 and 10. Centre Dan Gadzuric added 10 and 8 from the bench. Murray and Ridnour showed how clutch they are again last in this one, Murray scoring 9 in the fourth quarter and the two combining to spark a 10-2 run after the Bucks had tied the scores in the fourth. Radmanovic also scored 7 in the last, as the Sonics managed to hold on in this one and push their record back up above .500. Seattle were monstered on the glass 46-36, but nailed 9 triples and shot at better than 50% overall to get the W. http://www.nba.com/games/20031214/MILSEA/boxscore.html Next Game: @ Suns, Tues, Dec 16th, 6pm
yaya.....thanks for that great interpretation...supposedly it was a good game...but it wasn't on tv...why is that? grr...
