Seattle @ Sacramento - Game Thread <div align="center">@ Tuesday, Feb 1 2005 ARCO Arena - Sacramento, CA Projected Starters C- Brad Miller PF- Chris Webber (Songaila?) SF- Matt Barnes (Peja?) SG- Cat Mobley PG- Mike Bibby C- Jerome James PF- Reggie Evans SF- Shard SG- Ray Allen (Flip?) PG- Luke Ridnour -Injury Report- SACRAMENTO ? Bobby Jackson PG Wrist I-L. 1/7 ? Maurice Evans SG Groin I-L. 1/25 ? Predrag Stojakovic IR Back Questionable Sun. vs Min. 1/29 SEATTLE ? Mateen Cleaves: Strained shoulder-OUT ? Casanova Swift: Strained hip-OUT ? Damien Wilkins: Knee tendinitis ruled-OUT ? Ray Allen: Flu- Day to Day -Summary- These 2 teams played each other in Seattle earlier in the year. Seattle won by 30 points. The Kings shot 33% from the field, and a horrid 1 for 13 from beyond the arc. Rick Adelman said, "We were so poor offensively, it?s hard to imagine. We had like four assists and shot 20-something percent on the first half. We never went past one pass, we never really had any energy or quickness and we were down 14 at halftime. In the third quarter we cut it down a little bit to 8, but it just wasn?t there all night. We have to come with a better effort.......We took the first three that was there and we didn?t make anything early. I thought we missed a lot of wide open shots. As the half went on we didn?t make them work to guard us. We didn?t run any hard cuts and it was really disappointing. In this conference, when you play on the road, you?ve better be better than that offensively." Well, I guess the key to the game is....don't do that again. -Prediction- It'll be a close one. It's at Sacramento, so they have somewhat of an advantage. But, due to how poorly the Kings played last meeting, and judging by the way Reggie Evans and Danny Fortson manhandled the Kings interior players all game long, I'm giving the slight edge to the Sonics. SAC 107 SEA 111</div>
<div align="center">http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/EJamesX3/prediction.jpg"> [b]KjX3</div> Things to look for. Perimeter defense by Sacramento. Sacramento can allow a shoot out, especially at home, but they can't find themselves giving up 3-Pointers for an entire 48 minutes. If The Sonics decide to trade baskets, than Sacramento can match them, but The Sonics are far better from long range across the roster. I'm also hoping Sacramento realizes their frontcourt out matches Seattle's greatly. Brad Miller, coming of perhaps the best night of his season, Chris Webber, and Peja have no problems to face against Seattle, with the exception of Rashard Lewis. If Lewis can be contained from having a big night, Sacramento should dominate the battle of statistics against a lackluster frontline. Sacramento needs to return to old form, if they fall into a shootout, they need to clasp down defensively in the fourth. When Sacramento's at their best, this is the usual gameplan. Sacramento should be able to out perform Seattle late in the game, certainly they possess far more offensive options in late game situations, and if Sacramento could force the shot attempts away from Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis in the 4th, I doubt Seattle's role players could score a win in Arco. NOTE: F: Chris Webber (Knee) Questionable Tue. vs Sea. 1/31 NOTE: F: Peja Stojakovic (Back) Questionable Tue. vs Sea. 1/31 106 110
If Peja and Webber play I dont see why the Kings shouldnt win this game.Seattle will have a tougher time matching up against Sac.The only edge the Sonics front court has is in rebounding.Their frontcourt wont pose problems offensively or defensively as the Kings big men like to play in the high post.Bibby isnt going to have a tough defensive assignment.Cuttino is a good defender to put on Allen.Peja could have a tough time with Lewis as he has a physical advantage over Peja.The guy that could kill the kings whom im worried about the most is Vlad Rad.Hes a very good shooter that likes to sit on the 3 point line,and when he plays well the Sonics win. I like the Kings by 8, 109-101.
If the Kings have both Peja and Webber, then I think that they will take this one by 6. If not, this could turn into a San Antonio-Like shocker and the Sonics could win in a rout. Let's just hope that the former happens rather than the latter.
this game is full of if's, isnt Ray Allen day to day as well?? so its impossible to make a prediction with any confidence when the games best 3 players are questionable lol.. but it they all play it'll be a hell of a game, thats a definite. two fast paced teams in a shootout, my favorite kind of game..hopefully Kings pull it out though.
i read somewhere already that they said Ray ISN'T gonna play tonight...cuz of his flu....Nate McMillian won't be in the around cuz he went back home to be with his family cuz his mother passed away (may she rest in piece) id really like to see Peja give it a go tonight...but if he really isn't up to still by all means sit this one out as well....i expect to see Chris in their he had his biweekly "im gonna rest my knee so ill sit out this one" game against Minny on Sunday...so like i said he should be in their id be shocked if he's not...and tonight is the last game of Mo Evans mandatory 5 games out for being on the IL...thank gosh cuz boy do we miss this guy the good news is that we can't play any worse than we did in our first meeting against the sonics...and they've faded a lot since early on in the season...so it should be a good one...as long as we hit the boards hard...especially the offensive boards we should be in good shape GO KINGS!! btw...44thrilla...LOVE the sig
Well, I predicted a 4 point Sonics win, but they won by 5. Flip Murray had a great game, with 23 on 8-14 shooting. He, along with Shard combined for 47 points for the starting wing players. Seattle also had 6 players in double figures. On the Kings side, nobody really had a standout game besides Songaila. Bibby did have 25, but I have no idea why he decided to take 11 3's when he only hit 2 of them. I can't say this loss really hurts, because I knew they were going to lose.
44Thrilla,did you also know Webber and Stojakovic were going to be out?If so then that explains why you thought theyd lose.If not,then i dont know what youre thinking.Murray filled in nicely for Allen.Was surprised Webber and Peja didnt play.So, i suppose their absence would explain the loss.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting GiantMidget:</div><div class="quote_post">44Thrilla,did you also know Webber and Stojakovic were going to be out?If so then that explains why you thought theyd lose.If not,then i dont know what youre thinking.Murray filled in nicely for Allen.Was surprised Webber and Peja didnt play.So, i suppose their absence would explain the loss.</div> I did have a feeling that they weren't playing, but that's besides the point. The Sonics totally destoyed the Kings in every phase of the game earlier in the year. Some teams just matchup very well against us, and Seattle is a perfect example. I don't think Webber and Peja would have made much of a difference anyway. We had them both last time, and we lost by 30. Seattle is a great team, so I don't know why you are trying to belittle them. I think their record speaks for itself.
I definitely think the absence of Webber and Peja was the difference.It was a tight game that went down to the last minute at arco.I think I gave a fair amount of credit to both teams when I predicted the outcome.Everybody who says the Sonics are strong team is right and I agree,but Seattle started off the season much stronger than the way theyve played lately.You can tell theyre a good team but not dominant like they were earlier in the season.The only reason Ive said anything regarding the absence of Webber and Peja is because looking at both this forum and Seattle's I dont think people made a big enough deal about it.Its Webber and Peja,cmon.The only thing the Sonics really bested the Kings at in this game was shooting %.Sure Seattle gave the Kings a whipping earlier in the season,but up to this point performance wise the matchup between the two teams has turned in the Kings favor. So, i dont see why Sac wouldnt beat Seattle with both teams fully loaded.Thats the prediction I made assuming both teams had all or most of their players.
^ I see you haven't made any mention of the fact the Sonics were missing their superstar AND their coach.
As I said on the Sonics board I think the Kings lack of personel is more crucial to their success than that of the Sonics.So,here it is on the kings board.It isnt beyond reasonable to think that,and i dont think it indicates searching for an excuse either.Seems like an obvious reason for the loss to me.
miller's absence via lack of any real offensive performance also really hurt the Kings. they were playin him pretty tight & not allowing any of those mid range jumpers that he has really been feeding off of. overall it was not a really supurbly played game by the Kings & its an example of a game they should really have won, but didnt (especially after that fast start in the first Q)
