Don't have time to put up a full preview, but this is the game that will be circled on the calender in thick red texta. One win and we take the division, before finishing the season with three tough games on the road (Minny, Dallas and Houston). Use the power Luke.
A home loss to the hapless Hornets in a game of this magnitude would be disastrous - I don't think we'd recover from it. With this in mind I expect Jerome James to come out with a fire and intensity that we haven't seen all year.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Roland Hood:</div><div class="quote_post">A home loss to the hapless Hornets in a game of this magnitude would be disastrous - I don't think we'd recover from it. With this in mind I expect Jerome James to come out with a fire and intensity that we haven't seen all year.</div> You mean he will pick up 3 fouls in the first 2 minutes and sit out the rest of the game?? Boy, I hope he can get aggressive, even a good double/double with a few blocks would be nice. Like to see the shooters and penetrators get some more space.
At 3:00 today there were still 300+ seats available for tonight's game. I know they have lost 6 in a row. I know they are playing the worst team in the Western Conference... but I think they deserve a sell out crowd just to thank them for beating everyone's expectations from preseason. I mean they beat some media win predictions for this year by 30 games (can they even win 20 games this year?). They can clinch their first division title in 9 years! It is their last home game of the regular season! Come on, show a little love!
New Orleans were pwnd. So was Rashard's shooting stroke, though. One more win for guaranteed homecourt though.
This was such a fun game.......tons of giveaways. Nearly every player gave away a signed jersey. The announcer introduced the whole team before the game, and they all walked down through the crowd. Says a lot about our fans here, that they can be trusted not to abuse the players.
Big Game James had some words after the game: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">It's like a high, a rush. I can understand why MJ [Michael Jordan] and [Scottie] Pippen worked so hard after they won their first one," said Jerome James, who was flanked by sons Mason, 2, and Dallas, 4. "This is so sweet. You wait all of your life as a professional athlete to accomplish something like this. "It's what all the sweat and tears, all of the hard work, the pain pills, surgeries and ice and film and all of that crap and fussing and cussing and fighting and pulling and everything combined ? it's worth it all today. To see my teammates and to be in this room of brothers and to enjoy each other on this level. The camaraderie, the love, the passion. It's like church." </div> He must be talking about Rashard I think the Sonics overcelebrated a bit last night but considering the the prognositcators picked us dead last or close to it in the West, redemption feels good I suppose. Grats to the Supes.
You can tell that no one on our team (sans AD) has won any significant at the NBA level. Some of those quotes following the game were outrageous. You would have thought we won the NBA championship on Friday. That being said, absolutely a great season and our guys deserve to be happy. I'll feel a little more comfortable when we secure home court advantage for the first round (although we'd probably be better off playing all of our playoff games on the road). From a psychological perspective it would give us the feeling that we are supposed to win the series. These last three games are going to be extremely difficult. Minnesota is fighting for their playoff lives, Dallas is probably the second hottest team in the league, and Houston will want that last game to get home court advantage over us if we were to lose the first two and they would win their preceding games. We really can't come up for air just yet. Until we are mathematically set with our seedings and our home court advantage we got to approach these next games like they are playoff games. Especially considering the rust factor for Sweet Lew, AD, and Danny.
