Details: Who: Seattle Sonics (3-1) vs Minnesota Timberwolves (4-3) Where: Target Centre, Minnesota When: Sun Nov 11, 5pm TV: Kong Projected Lineups: Seattle PG: Brent Barry/Antonio Daniels/Luke Ridnour SG: Ronald Murray/Brent Barry/Richie Frahm SF: Rashard Lewis/Ansu Sesay/Vladimir Radmanovic PF: Vladimir Radmanovic/Reggie Evans/Vitaly Potapenko C: Calvin Booth/Jerome James/Vitaly Potapenko Coached by Nate McMillan Minnesota PG: Sam Cassell/Fred Hoiberg/Keith McLeod SG: Latrell Sprewell/Trenton Hassell/Quincy Lewis SF: Kevin Garnett/Gary Trent/Qunicy Lewis PF: Mark Madsen/Kevin Garnett/Gary trent C: Michael Olowokandi/Ervin Johnson Coached by Flip Saunders Sonic Injury List: Ray Allen: ankle, expected to miss 5-7 more weeks. Nick Collison: shoulder, season. Timberwolf Injury List Troy Hudson: ankle, on IL Wally Szczerbiak: plantar fascia, on IL. Analysis: The Sonics were brought back down to earth with a loss to lowly Atlanta, and will be keen to makes amends as they travel to Minnesota to start their first roadtrip of the season. Minnesota have recovered from the embarrassment of scoring only 61 in a game to start the climb up the standings, currently sitting 4th in the Midwest division. Seattle usually perform well against the Timberwolves, but playing away will ensure this one is a big task. Key Factor: Simple, Kevin Garnett. With Michael Olowokandi not fully fit, Minnesota's frontcourt relies on Kevin Garnett to do the job, as there is precious little help in this area. With Hudson and Szczerbiak both injured, Minnesota's backcourt is severely weakened and they will rely on Garnett banging inside and putting up big numbers. Defensively, Garnett is the man to curb Rashard Lewis' influence, while the Sonics will employ Vladimir Radmanovic and Reggie Evans to try and stop him. Key Matchup: Kevin Garnett vs Reggie Evans Strange that a starting SF and a bench PF could be the key matchup, but it is very relevant. Evans was very effective on Garnett last season, getting in his face and making body contact inside, something that Garnett is not always comfortable with. Evans drew a tech foul of Garnett in a victory near the end of last season purely through Garnett's frustration with his in-your-face style defense, The Sonics will again use Evans off the bench to get in Garnett's face and try to get him unsettled, a key to Seattle coming away with the points. X-Factors: Seattle Antonio Daniels - Whilst Minnesota's backcourt is weakened by injury, Spewell and Cassell will both cause their fair share of problems. Brent Barry in particular is a poor one-on-one defender, and will have to take Sprewell or Cassell on the defensive end. Look for Daniels, whose strength is perimeter defense, to see more minutes defending both of these players. Minnesota Mark Madsen - he similar to Reggie Evans in the sense that he is a pesky defender who plays with a lot of heart and energy. Vladimir Radmanovic is another who's not especially fond of contact and close defending, so look for the Timberwolves to employ Madsen to matchup on Radmanovic and keep him on his toes on both ends.
Rashard Lewis needs to get going early on...He needs to get involved in the offense early if Seattle are to come away with the win.The Wolves have been very inconsistant so far but they have been playing soild ball at home which is where they have been over the years so good.It is a very tough place to win...Keeping Garnett quiet early will of course be key.However the x-factor is Sam Cassell...He can kill teams if you give him room
Cassell is very dangerous, I think you'll probably see more from AD tonight as he is by far our best perimeter defender, and Cassell has the ability to kill Barry one-on-one. I'd like to see Nate revert back to a system he had going at the end of last year, in which the first 5 plays were designed to give Lewis the first 5 shots of the offense, to get him involkved early. He needs that.
Halftime Seattle up 50-48 Flip has 16, 2 and 3 Bones has 10, 2 and 2 Reggie Evans has 8 boards off the bench Lewis having a stinker with 0 points, 2 boards, 2 assists and 3 fouls (once again his inconsistency frustrates the hell out of me) Sonics shooting much better, at 48% tonight - garnett has been big with 14, 6 and 4
WOW @ Murray Who would of thought Ray Allen's replacement would put up basically the same numbers as Ray...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Sir Desmond:</div><div class="quote_post">Halftime Lewis having a stinker with 0 points, 2 boards, 2 assists and 3 fouls (once again his inconsistency frustrates the hell out of me) </div> dang... that's a rough half
Rough third by the whole team too - 11 points in a quarter riddled with bad shooting and turnovers. Flip shot 0-6 that term, but at least he picked up 4 assists.
it made me almost have a heartattack...I was thinkin for sure Flips shot wouldn't go in....*phewwwww* haha funny about the ^^ bench remark...Ronald Murray is on one of my fave players to watch now!
