Saturday, November 13, 2004
GAME 6: SUPERSONICS 88, RAPTORS 87
Well, that was quite a win. The Sonics didn't blow the other team out of the gym, didn't have the past few nights' gaudy numbers from Danny Fortson (he was getting a whistle every five seconds for setting illegal screens), didn't score 100 points, didn't have good shooting nights from Vlad Radmanovic and Rashard Lewis, didn't have very crisp passing in the second half, didn't have Ray Allen for the last 5:20 after he fouled out on a questionable offensive foul call (I knew once he got his 5th that he was going to foul out), didn't give Chris Bosh or Matt Bonner enough elbows to the chops (the Sonics let those two have way too much), and turned the ball over way way waaaaay too much in the second half. Still, they managed to squeak out with the victory.
Antonio Daniels scored the game-winning shot on a night in which the ball always seemed to find his hands and find the bottom of the net with the shot clock running down. On the final play, Daniels was left unguarded in backcourt, then he rolled off a screen on the left wing beyond the arc and drove to the lane. He went full bore and backed off just a tiny bit when he released his shot, as three defenders converged in case Daniels decided to drive through. The ball bounced up and through with 7.2 seconds remaining, though Lewis would have probably tip-jammed it had it missed.
The Daniels game-winning shot was no doubt aided by the Raptors' possession right before that. It ended with Vince Carter airballing a three with 20 seconds left to go. Carter also had the ball for the final shot of the game, on which his reverse layup hit the back right side of the rim. Earlier in the game, Carter took the ball by himself on one halfcourt set, moved around a bit, didn't really try to create anything, and just put up a three. Said Kevin Calabro: "that's a selfish shot."
After Carter's final miss, the Sonic players knew they'd gotten a tough win and huddled at midcourt amidst the vibes of happiness. They're 5-1, but for some reason these wins seem a lot more impressive than those from the starts of the last two years.
And now, a look at the boxscore to correlate with the stuff I already talked about. Rashard Lewis and Vlad Radmanovic were a combined 8-for-31 from the floor, though both did hit some pretty important shots. Something I didn't notice was that Radmanovic grabbed 11 boards. Ray Allen was nuts (29 points on 10-for-19 shooting) even without being able to play the final 5:20. Reggie Evans got Danny Fortson's numbers tonight, scoring 13 points and grabbing 16 rebounds. Antonio Daniels had the game-winner, part of his 16 points. Luke Ridnour had 8 points (okay), 7 assists (way to create), 3 rebounds (that's a bonus), and 5 turnovers (eek! Not so good). The Sonics shot 33-for-80 (41.3%) as a team, and outrebounded the Raptors 46-35.
Antonio Daniels scored the game-winning shot on a night in which the ball always seemed to find his hands and find the bottom of the net with the shot clock running down. On the final play, Daniels was left unguarded in backcourt, then he rolled off a screen on the left wing beyond the arc and drove to the lane. He went full bore and backed off just a tiny bit when he released his shot, as three defenders converged in case Daniels decided to drive through. The ball bounced up and through with 7.2 seconds remaining, though Lewis would have probably tip-jammed it had it missed.
The Daniels game-winning shot was no doubt aided by the Raptors' possession right before that. It ended with Vince Carter airballing a three with 20 seconds left to go. Carter also had the ball for the final shot of the game, on which his reverse layup hit the back right side of the rim. Earlier in the game, Carter took the ball by himself on one halfcourt set, moved around a bit, didn't really try to create anything, and just put up a three. Said Kevin Calabro: "that's a selfish shot."
After Carter's final miss, the Sonic players knew they'd gotten a tough win and huddled at midcourt amidst the vibes of happiness. They're 5-1, but for some reason these wins seem a lot more impressive than those from the starts of the last two years.
And now, a look at the boxscore to correlate with the stuff I already talked about. Rashard Lewis and Vlad Radmanovic were a combined 8-for-31 from the floor, though both did hit some pretty important shots. Something I didn't notice was that Radmanovic grabbed 11 boards. Ray Allen was nuts (29 points on 10-for-19 shooting) even without being able to play the final 5:20. Reggie Evans got Danny Fortson's numbers tonight, scoring 13 points and grabbing 16 rebounds. Antonio Daniels had the game-winner, part of his 16 points. Luke Ridnour had 8 points (okay), 7 assists (way to create), 3 rebounds (that's a bonus), and 5 turnovers (eek! Not so good). The Sonics shot 33-for-80 (41.3%) as a team, and outrebounded the Raptors 46-35.
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