Details: When: Sunday, January 23rd Where: KeyArena, Seattle Time (Seattle): 6:00 TV: Fox Sports, League Pass Projected Starters: <font color="green">Seattle (27-11)</font> Luke Ridnour Ray Allen Rashard Lewis Reggie Evans Jerome James <font color="Purple">Utah (14-27)</font> Keith McLeod Gordon Giricek Matt Harpring Carlos Boozer Curtis Botchardt 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. <font color="Blue"> </font> <font color="Purple">Utah</font> Kirk Snyder: Patellar chrondomalacia, ruled out. Jarron Collins: Sprained MCL, ruled out Brief Notes: <ul> [*]This could be a must win game for a Sonics team that has dropped two straight to inter-division foes. They meet the Jazz which started off looking like serious contenders but have since faultered and now stand at a weak 14-27. A lot of this can be attributed to losing star forward Andrei Kirilenko to injury however. AK47 will be suited up for the Jazz and is expected to get some playing time off the bench and could prove to be a formidable opponent late in the game. [/list] <ul> [*]With Kirilenko on the bench, the Sonics should plan to strike early. Utah's starting five for this game have accumulated a -1 net points differential, scoring 169 points while giving up 170. When Andrei Kirilenko is on the floor for the Jazz, they average 20 points more than they give up. On the flip side, Luke Ridnour shot the lights out for the Supersonics in a losing effort to Minnesota, gathering 17 points on 7-8 shooting and 3-3 from beyond the arc. Ridnour will match up with Keith McLeod who is known more for his defensive prominence than shooting and could hold Luke to a low scoring night. [/list] <ul> [*]All-Star Watch: Rashard Lewis has been losing some of his All-Star status with his injury and some mild struggling around it. Tonight could be a big boost to his campaign or it could be the continuing of his stock falling. Matt Harpring will have the assignment on Sweet Lew. [/list] <ul> [*]Word of the day: Augment; verb. Something that completes or makes an addition. [/list]<div align="center">"Vladimir Radmanovic is able to augment the Sonics' lineup in a positive way when he is called off the bench."</div> <div align="center">Random Family Guy Quote </div> Lois: Where would he go? Peter: I don't know. I just asked him to buy me some peanuts and Crackerjacks. Brian: I don't care if he ever gets back. I wasn't being cute, I really hope he's dead. All predictions, analysis and discussion relating directly to the game, both before, during and after, to be posted in this thread.
Rid has scored 18 and 19 points in the last week, can he finally hit 20 for the first time in his career? I don't think so Joe. Lewis will be having nightmares that AK is back, but we really should win this one. very important game.
If you say we "should win this one" one more time I'm afraid I'll have to staple your mouth shut and fingers together.
If Rashard doesn't make the All-Star game this season, it will be because he's African American. We really should have won that, and we did.
Why did Danny Fortson only play 5 minutes? Why do all of my favorite players on this roster somehow end up in McMillian's doghouse? Great game for Sweet Lew. He has been in a bit of a funk and it's good to see him come out of it. He's the only Sonic whose game I really like that I know is going to always get an opportunity to produce. One discouraging thing about this victory is that we again gave up over 100 points (105). The Jazz are definitely not known for putting up a ton of points and Seattle again could not really contain them defensively. I haven't seen the game yet, but we are not going to be Northwest Division champions if are defense doesn't improve. Sweet Lew is not going to be able to play the way he did tonight (offensively, 3 boards is bullsh*t) on a consistent basis. We got to be able to stop teams~or at the very least slow them down. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Supersonic:</div><div class="quote_post">If Rashard doesn't make the All-Star game this season, it will be because he's African American.</div> Hey Nick, don't push it.
Well, Danny getting five fouls (including a tech) in those five minutes might explain why he wasn't in the game much. However, as usual, at least two of the bench trio fired, Daniels was superb, and Vlad was productive also. You might as well flip a coin between those two for 6th man honours.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Iron Shiek:</div><div class="quote_post">Hey Nick, don't push it.</div> You're so cute when you're mad
I didn't realize that Fortson had five fouls. I just knew he only played 9 minutes against the Wolves and I was hoping that this didn't become a trend. I think that Fortson will give Bubba Wells a run for his money in terms of the least amount of minutes played while fouling out. I believe that Wells fouled out in a minute. Casual, remember JBB's motto: <font color="blue">JustBBall.com (here on "JBB") is a professional basketball resource that promotes mature, intelligent & respectful discussion.</font> I'm optimistic that you won't violate the respectful aspect.
I don't think Fortson is going to get into Nate's doghouse without very good reason (ie - off-court disputes). Unlike Flip, he's a guy that we really need to keep up the pace we've set. He forms formidable triangle with Reggie and Nick through the four and five, as a trio of players who rebound, play physical defense and set a lot of screens for our shooters. Danny is too important to this team to be in the doghouse for no apparent reason, we need him to beat the top teams in this league, make no mistake about that. As for Flip, I'm not saying he's not a quality player, because he is, but with a successful three guard combo in Ray, Luke and AD, plus Lewis and Vlad providing shooters from the small forward spot, his importance is not nearly at the level Danny's is.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Casual:</div><div class="quote_post">I don't know, if I keep beating you in arguments, you might get mad and decide I am. </div> Read post #74 in this thread http://www.justbball.com/forums/showthread...?t=30233&page=4 and you will realize how much you contradict yourself. I'm guessing that you are an only child or the youngest child b/c I can't imagine an older brother or sister consistently listening to all of the bs that you throw out. I think you should change your user name to Real Casual and get your little brother to back up all of the lame arguments that you claim have validity.
Nice win but I feel like if they didn't shoot 60% from 3 they lose the game. Sonics had a 19pt lead and the Jazz cut it to 5 in a few minutes. We're fast becoming one of those teams who can shoot themselves into and out of games in a hurry.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Roland Hood:</div><div class="quote_post">Nice win but I feel like if they didn't shoot 60% from 3 they lose the game. Sonics had a 19pt lead and the Jazz cut it to 5 in a few minutes. We're fast becoming one of those teams who can shoot themselves into and out of games in a hurry.</div> Thats a key thing for every shooting team.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Coolguy777:</div><div class="quote_post">Thats a key thing for every shooting team.</div> Last year's team was a shooting team. I was hoping that this season we were more than that. But really I guess we haven't made enough personnel changes sans Fortson and Collison to change the basic nature of the team.
Shooting is our crutch. We didn't have to rely on it as much earlier because teams didn't expect us to do anything else. Now they're not letting us do what we want, so we try to win by shooting away. Like last year.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Roland Hood:</div><div class="quote_post">Last year's team was a shooting team. I was hoping that this season we were more than that. But really I guess we haven't made enough personnel changes sans Fortson and Collison to change the basic nature of the team.</div> Were a shooting team no matter how you spin it. Do we run a nice offense and take it to the basket a fair amount and play good defense (well this hasnt been a good week) and rebound the ball well? yes but were a shooting team...not like last year though its completley different. But the fact remains that shooting teams can get big leads and lose them its simply a fact of our style of play....swings will/have occured...but if we win in the end who cares?
