Thursday, November 11, 2004
GAME 5: SUPERSONICS 108, KINGS 78
I'm torn. I want to pan this 4-1 start off and say that there's no way it will continue and sustain, but I really haven't seen the Sonics clean the glass this well and play such sound basketball in a long time. I mentioned in this comment box that if the Sonics keep outrebounding their opponents (54-39 in this game against the Kings), they'll be able to weather the storm if Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen tank it. While Rashard and Ray definitely didn't tank it last night (Allen had 20, Lewis had 18), they shot a combined 12-for-30 from the floor, hardly the dead-on marksmanlike efforts of the three games beforehand. The Sonics put up 108 points, with no scorer getting more than 20 (Allen). Vlad Radmanovic (14), Antonio Daniels (12), and Danny Fortson (16) combined for 42 points off the bench, and Luke Ridnour started and had a line of 17/5/5, spurring Craig Ehlo to make an obligatory "use the force" reference. Fortson had 13 boards to go with his 16 points in 21 minutes, though he only shot 3-for-8 from the floor. He got to the line 12 times, though, and sunk 10 of his free throws. Reggie Evans also chipped in with 12 rebounds, his second straight game with ten or more. In the Jerome James Watch, he piled up fouls in a hurry, and got 4 points and 2 rebounds in 12 minutes.
Before I get to my final Sonic thought of the post, I have to say that the Sonics have done it so far without Ron Murray coming off the bench. You know what would absolutely screw this team right now? If Danny Fortson caught the injury bug. He's only had two full seasons in his career, and the others have been riddled with injury. Here's to hoping for 80 games or so out of Fortson for the sake of everyone's sanity.
Though I'd slept through the first half of the game, I had Kevin Calabro and Craig Ehlo on the radio, all the while muting Brent Musberger and Tom Tolbert on ESPN(2). This was the first night of the year where FSN wasn't carrying the game, so Calabro/Ehlo were purely on radio and not simulcasting over the TV. In years past, I've thought that Calabro has handled the simulcast almost flawlessly. This year, it's kind of different since Brian Davis is getting tons of face time as the sideline guy, fishing out interviews or reporting other stuff around the arena left and right. For example, the other night, he was talking to Nick Collison's parents. Fine and dandy, I like Collison, I like those Kansas teams. Great. The interview ran a bit long, but hey, it's Collison's parents, not so bad. The interview then ran the length of a few plays. Not so good. Davis tossed back to Calabro, who picked up the action. But if you didn't have the TV on, you were in the dark, because you didn't know how the last play and the couple of free throws fared. I don't think I'll blame this on Calabro, because he's done these simulcasts with relative ease in the past (he's surely not used to anyone getting as much air time on the sidelines as Davis is now), but I hope they hash this out, because the radio audience is getting screwed when this happens, and it's happened a couple of times. I would almost suggest making Davis do play-by-play on TV and hiring another color guy for TV (and a sideline reporter, I guess), but that'd take more money, and if I were Calabro, I'd probably be offended.
Before I get to my final Sonic thought of the post, I have to say that the Sonics have done it so far without Ron Murray coming off the bench. You know what would absolutely screw this team right now? If Danny Fortson caught the injury bug. He's only had two full seasons in his career, and the others have been riddled with injury. Here's to hoping for 80 games or so out of Fortson for the sake of everyone's sanity.
Though I'd slept through the first half of the game, I had Kevin Calabro and Craig Ehlo on the radio, all the while muting Brent Musberger and Tom Tolbert on ESPN(2). This was the first night of the year where FSN wasn't carrying the game, so Calabro/Ehlo were purely on radio and not simulcasting over the TV. In years past, I've thought that Calabro has handled the simulcast almost flawlessly. This year, it's kind of different since Brian Davis is getting tons of face time as the sideline guy, fishing out interviews or reporting other stuff around the arena left and right. For example, the other night, he was talking to Nick Collison's parents. Fine and dandy, I like Collison, I like those Kansas teams. Great. The interview ran a bit long, but hey, it's Collison's parents, not so bad. The interview then ran the length of a few plays. Not so good. Davis tossed back to Calabro, who picked up the action. But if you didn't have the TV on, you were in the dark, because you didn't know how the last play and the couple of free throws fared. I don't think I'll blame this on Calabro, because he's done these simulcasts with relative ease in the past (he's surely not used to anyone getting as much air time on the sidelines as Davis is now), but I hope they hash this out, because the radio audience is getting screwed when this happens, and it's happened a couple of times. I would almost suggest making Davis do play-by-play on TV and hiring another color guy for TV (and a sideline reporter, I guess), but that'd take more money, and if I were Calabro, I'd probably be offended.
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