Details: When: Tuesday, November 15th Where: Continental Airlines Arena, New Jersey Time (Seattle): 4:30 TV: FSN, League Pass Projected Starters: <font color=""Green"">Seattle (2-4)</font> Luke Ridnour Ray Allen Rashard Lewis Nick Collison Johan Petro <font color=""DarkSlateBlue"">New Jersey (3-4)</font> Jason Kidd Vince Carter Richard Jefferson Jason Collins Nenad Krstic Injury Troubles: <font color=""Green"">Seattle</font> Rick Brunson - Plantar fasciitis (doubtful) <font color=""DarkSlateBlue"">New Jersey</font> Jason Collins - Muscle Strain (questionable) Inactive List: No idea (besides RoboSwift). Brief Notes: * Bob Weiss is staying with the experimental starting frontcourt of Collison and Petro, hoping they can bail him out of his coaching funk. They both played more than 35 minutes against Toronto, which doesn't project to be a frequent occurence with the amount of fouls they usually pile up. * Luke Ridnour and Rashard Lewis might have some trouble creating offense against their opponents, Kidd and Jefferson, possibly leaving Ray Allen with a heavy scoring load on his shoulders once again. * Speaking of Rashard, he's coming off his second career 40+ point game, and will look to keep that momentum going no matter who is guarding him. * Weiss seems to be losing faith in Damien Wilkins, who might be the be having the roughest time on offense of any Sonic on the roster, including Radmanovic and Petro. * If Jason Collins can't start, Scott Padgett will get the nod for the second straight game. * This will be the first time the Supes play this version of the Nets, with the three-headed monster of Kidd, Carter, and Jefferson. There's nobody on the Sonics that can begin to stop even one of them, so look for somebody to have a big game. <div align="center">Random Sonic Quote:</div> ?The biggest challenge for me this year is being able to stay on that level, that All-Star level. Not just to be an All-Star player, but can I be better? Can I get this team back to the position where we were last year and go even farther? Can I be consistent with it every night and come out and do it every night? Not just be that guy that barely made the All-Star team, but one of the elite players in the NBA.? Rashard Lewis, Seattle Times All predictions, analysis and discussion relating directly to the game, both before, during and after, to be posted in this thread.
Can we call this our best loss of the season? We looked solid offensively and the refs def played a factor in doing us into night with there constant foul calling and handing the Nets point. Alot of which were touch fouls at best. As the game the rebounding has to be the factor that comes out and hits you. Losing on the glass 47-32 is a serious problem and they had some absolutely crucial offensive rebounds that lead to baskets. No doubt the sacrifice of playing Evans only 11 minutes. However, i think its a sacrifice that does have to be made but the team as a entirely is going to have to do better on the boards. OK I have strayed away from critizing Weiss but we played 11 guys again tonight and its getting silly. Weiss needs to cut someone out of the rotation. The obvious player is Damien Wilkins. He brings energy, defense, and athletism but with that said he hasnt looked great on the court and us bothering with giving him 10-12 mpg is just annoying. Vlade has been playing better and its no secret we need him to win. Time to cut Wilkins out.
Yeah, it can't be a good sign when you're glad you only lose by 10 and only give up 109 pts... Getting pounded on the boards is becoming a habit - I'm sure this will lead to an even more disgruntled Reggie and Forston. Flip DNP due to back spasms, coulda helped with Ray having a putrid 4-17 shooting night.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Roland Hood:</div><div class="quote_post"> Getting pounded on the boards is becoming a habit - I'm sure this will lead to an even more disgruntled Reggie and Forston. .</div> Thats what I was thinking - Mikki didn't look great tonight, not that anyone did against Krstic, but at least Fortson would lay the wood to him and snag some boards. So much for playing Danny and Nick together, seems da Fort has fallen from grace. On a bright note, Lewis was the only reason we stayed in this game and again showed he can carry alot of the load if only the effort is made to get him the ball in the right spots. At the end of the 3rd, it easily could have turned into a 20 point blowout right then, but Shard made plays and helped give us all at least a little bit of hope.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post">Ray Allen should be ashamed of himself.</div> Sometimes the shots just don't fall. I am not his biggest supporter, but I am not going to get on him for a bad shooting night.
this is his 3rd awful game in a row i believe... Although there is no excuse for his poor performance, i do notice that teams rather double or sometimes triple team him than rashard lewis...that's why lewis is doing so well I don't see all the games because i am not in seattle...but i would strongly hope he can do well...shake his bad shooting off, and move on and have a superstar season as always
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">In a move that caught the Sonics off guard, the Nets defended Ridnour with Carter and assigned Kidd to Allen. The switch was enough to negate Ridnour's playmaking ? he had just three assists and 13 points ? and turned him into a jump-shooter.</div> luke sux can't even take VC off the dribble
