Preview Details: Who: <font color="SeaGreen">Seattle Sonics</font> (11-10) vs <font color="Indigo">Phoenix Suns</font>(8-16) Where: America West Arena When: Tues, Dec 16th, 6pm TV: KONG, NBALP 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 <font color="Indigo">Phoenix</font> PG: Stephon Marbury/Anfernee Hardaway SG: Joe Johnson/Casey Jacobson/Anfernee Hardaway SF: Shawn Marion/Joe Johnson PF: Scott Williams/Tom Gugliotta C: Jake Voskuhl/Jahidi White/Cezary Trybanski Coached by Mike D'Antoni <font color="SeaGreen">Sonic Injury List:</font> Ray Allen: ankle, expected to miss 1 more week. Nick Collison: shoulder, season. <font color="Indigo">Sun Injury List</font> Leandro Barbosa: bruised sternum, unknown. Amare Stoudamire: left ankle, on IL. Zarko Cabakapa: right wrist, on IL. Analysis: Phoenix, losers of 6 straight and an early season disappointment, are showing just how much they need sophomore power forward Amare Stoudemire. Aagainst a weak interior team like Seattle, Stoudamire could potentially have a field day, and deliver the Suns a much needed win. However he is not there, and the Sonics are coming off two of their best performances of the year; a big win in Detroit, uncommonly founded on defense, and a big fightback against the Bucks on Sunday. Phoenix will want this one badly at home as Seattle may be a team they fight for a playoff berth, and winning this against their Pacific Division rival will be vital. <font size="4">"I'm looking at how do we finish. It is a chess match with our group. You try and push some buttons and hope that it works."</font> - Seattle coach Nate McMillan on match-ups after losing Brent Barry for the final period but still winning against Milwaukee. Key Factor: The start. Seattle gave up 39 points to Milwaukee in the first period and had to fight hard and use the home crowd to get over the top of the Bucks. If Phoenix get a hot start, they have the players to maintain it, even without Stoudemire, and will have the home court advantage too. Seattle will want to give Rashard Lewis early touches; in the past he has had the better of Shawn Marion, and will want to get the ball early to test out the shoulder he strained against the Bucks. Phoenix will also want to test out the shoulder, and will look to double team and make contact as much as possible early on, which means Vladimir Radmanovic and Brent Barry need to be alert early on the offensive end. Key Matchup: Rashard Lewis vs Shawn Marion Two of the primetime NBA small forwards go head to head here, and if one gets hot generally his respective teammates follow suit. Lewis will have to demand the ball early and look to use his first step to get around Marion, as getting hot early usually sets him up for a big game. Shawn has the advantage inside, but Lewis will give him trouble defensively on the perimeter. Marion is coming off a huge personal week for the Suns, and his rebounding will cause some trouble. Lewis will need to make an extra effort to box out, but will also need help in this area, especially if Marion gets settled down low. X-Factors: <font color="SeaGreen">Seattle</font> Richie Frahm - the other unknown shooting guard on Seattle's roster, Frahm has been bouncing around various leagues since coming out of Gonzaga a few years ago. His forte is his shooting, and is coming off a career high 17 points against Milwaukee, all in the middle two periods to get the Sonics back in the game. <font color="Indigo">Phoenix</font> Joe Johnson - Starting to become the player Boston hoped for when they drafted him, he means Seattle cannot afford to concentrate too much on Marion and Marbury. A much improved shooter and has a knack for filling the statsheet, if he gets hot then it allows Marion and Marbury more space.
Great Preview. The Suns have been struggling lately and really do miss Amare. Their season has been a huge disappointment, which is the opposite of the Sonics. Seattle has played great team ball, and if they set the tone early they could take this game.
nice preview, i think the sonics have this game in the bag if somebody doenst step up to help marion and marbury...Sonics by...11
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting anadagirlballer4strt:</div><div class="quote_post">by the 4th quarter...they've tied tons of times...now @ 71...still @ 9:18...</div>This is what I expected. I don't know how some of you expected a blow out. The Suns are still a decent team, especially at home.
disappointing game...92-91 to the Suns.....in overtime...they had chances..but Lewis wasn't such a clutch at the end...
Damn, Lewis was fantastic all night then he blew it with missed freethrows and a crucial turnover at the end. 59 rebounds to 41 in Seattle's favour, but 27 turnovers cost us BIG time. A few positives - Radmanovic was a lot tougher than usual tonight, grabbed 14 boards and to me looked very comfortable against Matrix. Daniels had easily his best game for the Sonics so far, he was fantastic and according the boxscore had 18, 10 and 5. He looked a lot more comfortable out there then what I've seen from his other performances. Booth was solid off the bench too, but other than that we didn't get enough help from the second unit, in particular Flip. http://www.nba.com/games/20031216/SEAPHO/boxscore.html Now for Carmelo and the Nuggets. Preview coming later on.
