Wednesday, December 01, 2004
GAME 16: TRAILBLAZERS 100, SUPERSONICS 94
TrailBlazers 100, SuperSonics 94
It's official. The Sonics are good enough to where I can curse at the television when something goes wrong, and I do it even when they win. In a related story, I still hate Nick Van Exel. I have since he was a Laker.
Well, the Sonics shouldn't have lost that one. Plain and simple. Granted, it's a road game and if you stay close, you always have a chance to win...but they were up by double digits in the third quarter. Danny Fortson's been great, and I love what he's been doing this year. He needs to know when to keep his damn mouth shut. Fortson plays the fourth quarter because Reggie Evans can't shoot a free throw to save his freakin' life. When Fortson gets his second technical with about nine minutes left and that came after a flagrant foul, you get what Kevin Calabro was harping on the whole time thereafter -- a four-point swing in favor of Portland. The other thing that compounded the Sonics' decline in the game was the fact that they were in the penalty so early, and every foul that the Blazers drew got them to the line. Don't get me wrong, the 13-3 start is great, but they've got to make sure they rein in Fortson just enough, and they have to learn how to put teams away. That's what should have happened in the first few minutes of the fourth quarter. It didn't.
The Sonics experienced Shareefer Madness. It's fitting that Jerome James has an awesome third quarter, posterizes renowned shot-blocker Theo Ratliff with a monster dunk, and the team loses. I'll gladly trade Jerome James sucking if it means the Sonics will win. In any event, we'll see what this team is made of now. They've got Utah at home tomorrow.
In a related story, how on earth do you let the opposing team score 38 points in the 4th quarter? That's abominable.
PEEK AT THE BOXSCORE
starters: Rashard Lewis 29 pts/3 reb (12-20 FG, 3-3 free throws), Ray Allen 21 pts/6 reb/5 ast (5-18 FG, 10/10 free throws), Luke Ridnour 11 pts/10 ast, Reggie Evans 10 pts/10 reb
bench: nonexistent. Thank you, Danny Fortson (4 pts/6 reb). Nick Collison was the leading bench scorer with six
team: 5-for-21 from downtown (23.8%), tied Portland in rebounding with 31, bench was outscored 43-15 and outrebounded 13-8
Jerome James Watch: 8 pts/4 blk/3 reb (24 min)
This is just plain wrong. The Sonics got good play out of Jerome James, and double-doubles out of Luke Ridnour and Reggie Evans, and they still lost.
One thing's for sure, the one thing that keeps Ray Allen's scoring up is the fact that he's going to the rack and trying to draw contact and get to the free-throw line. That's where he's been scoring a lot of his points lately. He'd had a bad cold on the road trip, but he's still trying to get his jumper back, and hasn't shot well in two weeks. Take a gander at Ray Allen from the floor, and Ray Allen from the line...
Ray Allen
5-15 FG, 4-4 FT at NJ (Nov 17)
7-16 FG, 7-7 FT at Toronto (Nov 19)
7-16 FG, 5-6 FT at Boston (Nov 21)
7-19 FG, 8-8 FT at Minnesota (Nov 23)
4-15 FG, 11-11 FT at Memphis (Nov 24)
5-19 FG, 8-9 FT vs. New Jersey (Nov 26)
5-13 FG, 7-8 FT vs. Indiana (Nov 28)
5-18 FG, 10-10 FT at Portland (Nov 30)
45-131 FG (34.3%), 60-63 FT (95.2%) over the stretch
Okay, so I'm not expecting Ray Allen to go nuts every night and shoot 50% from the floor, but he definitely hasn't gotten the jumper back yet. The point totals he had over that stretch I just listed were 14, 24, 21, 24, 20, 19, 19, and 21. From the beginning of the season up to that stretch, he had 20, 25, 24, 30, 20, 29, 34, and 37. Hopefully Rayray can get his groove back soon.
It's official. The Sonics are good enough to where I can curse at the television when something goes wrong, and I do it even when they win. In a related story, I still hate Nick Van Exel. I have since he was a Laker.
Well, the Sonics shouldn't have lost that one. Plain and simple. Granted, it's a road game and if you stay close, you always have a chance to win...but they were up by double digits in the third quarter. Danny Fortson's been great, and I love what he's been doing this year. He needs to know when to keep his damn mouth shut. Fortson plays the fourth quarter because Reggie Evans can't shoot a free throw to save his freakin' life. When Fortson gets his second technical with about nine minutes left and that came after a flagrant foul, you get what Kevin Calabro was harping on the whole time thereafter -- a four-point swing in favor of Portland. The other thing that compounded the Sonics' decline in the game was the fact that they were in the penalty so early, and every foul that the Blazers drew got them to the line. Don't get me wrong, the 13-3 start is great, but they've got to make sure they rein in Fortson just enough, and they have to learn how to put teams away. That's what should have happened in the first few minutes of the fourth quarter. It didn't.
The Sonics experienced Shareefer Madness. It's fitting that Jerome James has an awesome third quarter, posterizes renowned shot-blocker Theo Ratliff with a monster dunk, and the team loses. I'll gladly trade Jerome James sucking if it means the Sonics will win. In any event, we'll see what this team is made of now. They've got Utah at home tomorrow.
In a related story, how on earth do you let the opposing team score 38 points in the 4th quarter? That's abominable.
PEEK AT THE BOXSCORE
starters: Rashard Lewis 29 pts/3 reb (12-20 FG, 3-3 free throws), Ray Allen 21 pts/6 reb/5 ast (5-18 FG, 10/10 free throws), Luke Ridnour 11 pts/10 ast, Reggie Evans 10 pts/10 reb
bench: nonexistent. Thank you, Danny Fortson (4 pts/6 reb). Nick Collison was the leading bench scorer with six
team: 5-for-21 from downtown (23.8%), tied Portland in rebounding with 31, bench was outscored 43-15 and outrebounded 13-8
Jerome James Watch: 8 pts/4 blk/3 reb (24 min)
This is just plain wrong. The Sonics got good play out of Jerome James, and double-doubles out of Luke Ridnour and Reggie Evans, and they still lost.
One thing's for sure, the one thing that keeps Ray Allen's scoring up is the fact that he's going to the rack and trying to draw contact and get to the free-throw line. That's where he's been scoring a lot of his points lately. He'd had a bad cold on the road trip, but he's still trying to get his jumper back, and hasn't shot well in two weeks. Take a gander at Ray Allen from the floor, and Ray Allen from the line...
Ray Allen
5-15 FG, 4-4 FT at NJ (Nov 17)
7-16 FG, 7-7 FT at Toronto (Nov 19)
7-16 FG, 5-6 FT at Boston (Nov 21)
7-19 FG, 8-8 FT at Minnesota (Nov 23)
4-15 FG, 11-11 FT at Memphis (Nov 24)
5-19 FG, 8-9 FT vs. New Jersey (Nov 26)
5-13 FG, 7-8 FT vs. Indiana (Nov 28)
5-18 FG, 10-10 FT at Portland (Nov 30)
45-131 FG (34.3%), 60-63 FT (95.2%) over the stretch
Okay, so I'm not expecting Ray Allen to go nuts every night and shoot 50% from the floor, but he definitely hasn't gotten the jumper back yet. The point totals he had over that stretch I just listed were 14, 24, 21, 24, 20, 19, 19, and 21. From the beginning of the season up to that stretch, he had 20, 25, 24, 30, 20, 29, 34, and 37. Hopefully Rayray can get his groove back soon.
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