Thursday, January 06, 2005
GAME 31: WIZARDS 107, SUPERSONICS 96
Wizards 107, SuperSonics 96
Here's the scrawl for tonight's game, nationally televised on TNT, if you can get it. Postgame notes will be below the in-game stuff as soon as I get around to it.
[final content posted ~8:08p]
1st qtr
No score until 10:39 mark on Gilbert Arenas hits both free throws. 9:33 James holds ball high, has it batted away, makes stupid foul (halts transition though). 7:22 James over the back on offensive rebound (2nd foul), Vlad Radmanovic comes in. 6:31 Sonics already over the limit. Sonics still shooting badly. 5:38 Jamison on Radmanovic hits with no hand in face 14-8 WSH. At 5:10, the Sonics are shooting 5-for-16 (31%) from the field and haven't gotten to the free throw line. 4:52 Lewis gets the foul and one (16-13 WSH). 3:19 Lewis three 22-16 WSH, answered on the other end. 2:28 wide-open jam in transition by Washington. 0:59.4 Lewis fouled...Ehlo notices quite a few people are slipping on the floor.
After one quarter -- Washington 29, Seattle 17
You know, I absolutely hate it when my teams crap the bed on national television. Why does this always have to be the case?
Man, does this team miss Reggie Evans THAT much? The quarter wasn't even half over when the Wizards got the Sonics into the penalty. The result? The Wizards were perfect in 14 attempts from the free-throw line. Meanwhile, the Sonics in their last four quarters of play have allowed 31, 30, 29, and 29 points. Surprisingly, they're only getting beat 13-12 on the boards so far, but they turned the ball over six times in the first quarter. Also, they've still got the crappy shooting from the night before (7-for-25, 28%). The Sonics turned the ball over six times in the first quarter. The next one is Locke's stat: the Sonics only scored on back-to-back possessions ONCE in the quarter. Embarrassing. Also, only Rashard Lewis scored more than two points for the Sonics in the first quarter.
2nd qtr
10:43 Ray Allen's first basket of the night WSH 34-21. 10:07 Seattle timeout...this team SUCKS right now; they are absolutely LISTLESS. 8:49 Murray first field goal since last month against Philly WSH 36-23. 8:02 Murray layup...SEA 38-25. 7:35 Sonics sleep on inbound, Washington hits three, lead 43-25. 6:33 Ridnour nice driving layup 43-27, answered with a three on the other end by Jarvis Hayes. 5:45 Murray PACKS one on Ruffin 46-29 WSH. 3:51 Ridnour righty runner 46-33. 3:28 Allen fouled. 3:13 Potapenko righty SLAM, Sonics 10-0 run, WSH 46-37...Sonics still have a way to go; but Arenas gets a three on the next possession, then Vitaly gets a charge called on him. 2:11 Sonics don't block out Jeffries, who dunks off a rebound WSH 51-37. 1:46 Arenas three 54-37, answered by Potapenko slam.
Half
Kevin Calabro after Vlad Radmanovic throwing the ball the length of the floor at the halftime buzzer to Sonic fans along the baseline: "that may be their greatest thrill of the night."
Kevin Calabro also told David Locke that the press was getting hand-dipped ice cream for halftime food.
David Locke brought up a great point with about five minutes to go in the half. He talked with one of the Sonics' assistant coaches, and that coach said the Wizards are going to take a certain number of shots, and not all of them will necessarily be good shots. The Wizards launched a couple of threes that bricked, the Sonics got the ball back, and this sparked their 10-0 run. Of course, the Sonics are playing absolutely no defense, and Washington erased it with an 8-0 run of their own. It's the 5th game in 9 days for this team, but damn. Like I said, does this team really miss Reggie Evans THAT much?
The only positives here I can think of are that Ron Murray (8 pts) and Vitaly Potapenko (4) are actually doing something.
Both teams have made 18 shots from the field in the first half, and the Wizards have actually missed one more shot than the Sonics. The difference? Free throws. The Wizards got to the line 14 times and didn't miss in the first quarter, and they sit here at half perfect in 18 attempts from the ol' charity stripe.
Translation: the Sonics aren't shooting well, but the Wizards aren't shooting any better. They're just still buoyed from drawing a bunch of fouls on the Sonics early in the first quarter and going to the line for the rest of that quarter. As for the Sonics, I wish they'd realize that if their shots aren't falling, sooner or later they're just going to have to take the ball to the rack and start going to the line. This is how Ray Allen was able to stay effective when he was sick and his jumpshot wasn't there. The Sonics? They're just 5-for-7.
Halftime stats
Rashard Lewis 15 pts (6-10 FG), Ron Murray 8 pts (4-6 FG), Luke Ridnour 5 pts (2-2 FG), Ray Allen (1-7 FG) 4 pts/4 reb, Vlad Radmanovic 0 pts (1-6 FG), Antonio Daniels 0 pts (0-3 FG)
Let's face it. If you go through one half of basketball and Ray Allen is your leading rebounder, you're in trouble.
3rd qtr
11:18 nice Lewis offensive rebound off Allen miss, hooks one in right baseline 60-44 WSH. 10:43 up-and-under spinning shot in the lane 60-46. 10:18 James block leads to Ridnour behind-the-back pass to Lewis trailing for a SLAM. GREAT way to start out the half. Some games are won and lost depending on how you play coming out of the locker room at halftime. I'm not sure if the Sonics dug themselves too deep a hole, but they might still have a chance. 8:57 Ridnour running righty layup 64-52 WSH...Sonics 10-4 run to open half. 8:20 James hits both free throws...Sonics 12-5 run to open half. 7:59 Ridnour intercepts, Allen lays up...14-5 Seattle run. 7:04 Sonics TURNOVER on two straight possessions with bad passes. 6:41 Antawn Jamison lays in his missed free throw, WSH 72-56; this one's probably over -- I'm calling it. 6:25 Lewis three left corner after timeout WSH 72-59. 4:52 Allen stuffed by Haywood on the break, ouch. 2:57 Seattle takes 20...just like last night, NO bounces are going Seattle's way. If they make a run, it ends quickly and they can't make a defensive stop for the next three trips down the floor. If any ball is tipped on a rebound, they're usually not coming up with it. It's probably the long road trip, but if it's not that, it's just that the team is just plain not getting it done. One more loss like this and I think it's freak-out time. Sonics over the limit at 2:08. Good gracious, Rashard Lewis is on fire. Too bad he's the only one doing anything. Lewis scored 13 straight Sonic points to end the quarter.
After three quarters: 85-71
Ray Allen finally got into double digits with those two free throws at the end of the quarter. Sadly, this game looks too much like the one last night, except the Sonics didn't hold the Wizards to 15 points in the first quarter like they did with Orlando last night. I've already called it, but the Sonics aren't going to win this game unless the Wizards fall flat on their faces and the Sonics get dunks, layups, or free throws on every possession, or if Rashard stays hot. He's got 32 points after three quarters (he had 17 in the 3rd alone), and is the leading rebounder for the Sonics with 7. The Wizards are 22-for-24 from the line after three, and the Sonics are a mere 8-for-11. Did I mention the Sonics are probably about two steps slow on defense?
4th qtr
11:20 Fortson finally getting some offense down low WSH 85-73. 10:49 Daniels HITS A THREE WSH 85-76...first make after missing ten straight. 9:22 Fortson tips back a Lewis miss off a WSH turnover 85-78, answered on other end, then Ridnour can't finish the layup on the ensuing possession. Surprise. 8:21 KWAME BROWN SIGHTING!! Brown fouled Fortson. 7:00 Fortson lays in a Ridnour transition baseline lob 88-80, Fortson has ball go off him and out of bounds on next possession. 6:09 Allen transition layup 88-82, but 5:54 Ridnour plowed on Brown pick (no call), and Fortson fouls Arenas and one WSH 91-82. 4:35 Sonics make defensive stops, Ray Allen loses the handle on the ball, Fortson blows a layup and the Wizards cash in on the other end. In a weird note, Luke Ridnour is three points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist from a triple-double with 4:27 remaining. 4:15 Sonics get ball back, ball off Allen's fingertips out of bounds on the break. 3:52 Allen three left WSH 94-85. 1:40 Hughes dunk WSH 103-88, timeout. This one's definitely over now.
Final: Wizards 107, SuperSonics 96
---
The Sonics have a consecutive-game losing streak for the first time this year. They are 12-2 in back-to-back sets this year, and came away with a 3-2 road trip.
Last night the Sonics got great nights out of Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis. Tonight, Rashard Lewis did all of the heavy lifting, and Ray Allen had a crappy night, and though the bench was better than it was last night, nobody off of it really caught fire. Of course the Sonics shouldn't have won this game.
If you look at the boxscore and want to say that any one thing doomed the Sonics tonight, it was the free throws, and the Sonics arguably didn't recover from the first quarter, when the Wizards made all 14 shots they took from the free-throw line. Even worse, the Sonics shot better than the Wizards did from the floor, but Washington's free throws more than made up for the difference.
What about other in-boxscore reasons the Sonics lost? Turnovers. There's been some bad passes lately on the break, which mentally for a fan like me is like poking an inflated balloon. "All right, they're going to get an easy layup or a dunk, yeah!! DAMMIT, HOLD ONTO THE BALL/WATCH WHERE YOU'RE PASSING IT!!" Usually for the Sonics I consider about 13 or 14 turnovers (just based on boxscores) as the upper limit to what they should give away in order to still have a chance to win the game. Tonight they were in the 20s.
But what the boxscore doesn't tell with any one stat is the Sonics inability to make sustained defensive stops to preserve their runs. The Sonics could reel off a 9-0 run, but they'd always collapse and compound that with a couple of turnovers or missed shots (or have one guy down low trying to clear out for the rebound against three or four Wizards) and Washington would have no trouble erasing most or all of the run that the Sonics had just made. Of course, you can look into this, you could look into Reggie Evans being out for the last two games, or you could look into the fact that this was the Sonics' fifth game in nine days.
PEEK AT THE BOXSCORE
starters
Rashard Lewis 35 pts/11 reb (14-26 FG, 5-10 3pt, 2-4 free throws), Ray Allen 17 pts/6 reb/4 ast/4 stl (6-20 FG, 1-8 3pt, 4-4 free throws), Luke Ridnour 8 pts/7 reb/10 ast (3-6 FG, 2-4 free throws), Nick Collison 2 pts/3 reb (4 fouls, 4 turnovers, 11 min)
bench
Danny Fortson 8 pts/8 reb (5 fouls, 4 turnovers, 21 min), Ron Murray 8 pts (4-9 FG, 20 min), Vlad Radmanovic 5 pts/4 reb (2-8 FG, 1-5 3pt, 25 min), Antonio Daniels 5 pts/3 ast (2-6 FG, 24 min), Vitaly Potapenko 4 pts/3 reb (2-2 FG, 7 min)
Jerome James Watch
4 pts/4 reb/3 blk (1-2 FG, 5 fouls, 10 min)
team
shot 39-for-87 from the field (44.8%), shot 8-for-28 (28.6%) from downtown, shot 10-for-14 (71.4%) from the line, outrebounded Washington 49-43, turned the ball over 22 times (only forced 9 turnovers), allowed six Wizards to score in double figures
Again, I must say those numbers for the free throws sicken me. No Sonic went to the line for more than four shots tonight, and the team only went to the line 14 times in all. Last night I was complaining when they went to the line 24 times when their shots weren't falling (though they shot better tonight), so you can imagine what I'm thinking after this game. I mentioned it a few paragraphs ago, but if Ray Allen's missing a ton of shots, I wish there was a point where he could decide that he's just going to take everything to the rack, and unless he gets called for six charges, he should be okay because he only shoots a crazy 91% or whatever it is from the free throw line. A quick basket in transition can get you some momentun, sure, but like I said last night, if you're playing from behind and want to chip away at a lead, you can take the jumpshot route if they're falling, and you can keep going to the line if they're not (the clock doesn't elapse when you're at the free-throw line). The Sonics are a good free-throw shooting team, and I wish they'd realize this when their jumpers stop falling.
Once again, the positives (other than the third-straight double-double from Rashard Lewis) were Ron Murray and Vitaly Potapenko being able to contribute a bit.
I guess another positive is that Luke Ridnour has officially found his shot again, though shooting is not his main role on the team. Luke's five-game stretch of going 9-for-46 from the field has been since replaced with 27-for-51 shooting (52.9%) in the six games since that brutal stretch. Every time Ridnour puts up a line like he did tonight, it reminds me of what Brent Barry used to do here on a nightly basis. Luke was 2 points and 3 rebounds short of a triple-double tonight.
For the record, in the last three games, all in which Rashard Lewis has gotten double-doubles, the Sonics are 1-2.
It's eating at me, though. Isn't there a point where they're missing all these jumpers and a switch goes off in their heads saying "go to the rack and shoot free throws"? I know this team has been a great shooting team at times this year, but when it's the last game of a five-games-in-nine-days swing, you have to find another way to get it done.
On second thought, maybe the Sonics didn't have the legs to drive to the rack at all because it was their fifth game in nine days. I still think it could have worked though. They need to take advantage of the fact that they're a good free-throw shooting team again.
....aaaaaand I'm spent. Except just mentally, and not both mentally AND physically like the Sonics.
I asked Jinkies why the Sonics lost tonight, and the cat answered, "I am sorry, but I am into other cats only. I thank you for the offer."
I think if I'm ever in a bind trying to figure out how to close a post on this site, Jinkies is my security blanket.
Here's the scrawl for tonight's game, nationally televised on TNT, if you can get it. Postgame notes will be below the in-game stuff as soon as I get around to it.
[final content posted ~8:08p]
1st qtr
No score until 10:39 mark on Gilbert Arenas hits both free throws. 9:33 James holds ball high, has it batted away, makes stupid foul (halts transition though). 7:22 James over the back on offensive rebound (2nd foul), Vlad Radmanovic comes in. 6:31 Sonics already over the limit. Sonics still shooting badly. 5:38 Jamison on Radmanovic hits with no hand in face 14-8 WSH. At 5:10, the Sonics are shooting 5-for-16 (31%) from the field and haven't gotten to the free throw line. 4:52 Lewis gets the foul and one (16-13 WSH). 3:19 Lewis three 22-16 WSH, answered on the other end. 2:28 wide-open jam in transition by Washington. 0:59.4 Lewis fouled...Ehlo notices quite a few people are slipping on the floor.
After one quarter -- Washington 29, Seattle 17
You know, I absolutely hate it when my teams crap the bed on national television. Why does this always have to be the case?
Man, does this team miss Reggie Evans THAT much? The quarter wasn't even half over when the Wizards got the Sonics into the penalty. The result? The Wizards were perfect in 14 attempts from the free-throw line. Meanwhile, the Sonics in their last four quarters of play have allowed 31, 30, 29, and 29 points. Surprisingly, they're only getting beat 13-12 on the boards so far, but they turned the ball over six times in the first quarter. Also, they've still got the crappy shooting from the night before (7-for-25, 28%). The Sonics turned the ball over six times in the first quarter. The next one is Locke's stat: the Sonics only scored on back-to-back possessions ONCE in the quarter. Embarrassing. Also, only Rashard Lewis scored more than two points for the Sonics in the first quarter.
2nd qtr
10:43 Ray Allen's first basket of the night WSH 34-21. 10:07 Seattle timeout...this team SUCKS right now; they are absolutely LISTLESS. 8:49 Murray first field goal since last month against Philly WSH 36-23. 8:02 Murray layup...SEA 38-25. 7:35 Sonics sleep on inbound, Washington hits three, lead 43-25. 6:33 Ridnour nice driving layup 43-27, answered with a three on the other end by Jarvis Hayes. 5:45 Murray PACKS one on Ruffin 46-29 WSH. 3:51 Ridnour righty runner 46-33. 3:28 Allen fouled. 3:13 Potapenko righty SLAM, Sonics 10-0 run, WSH 46-37...Sonics still have a way to go; but Arenas gets a three on the next possession, then Vitaly gets a charge called on him. 2:11 Sonics don't block out Jeffries, who dunks off a rebound WSH 51-37. 1:46 Arenas three 54-37, answered by Potapenko slam.
Half
Kevin Calabro after Vlad Radmanovic throwing the ball the length of the floor at the halftime buzzer to Sonic fans along the baseline: "that may be their greatest thrill of the night."
Kevin Calabro also told David Locke that the press was getting hand-dipped ice cream for halftime food.
David Locke brought up a great point with about five minutes to go in the half. He talked with one of the Sonics' assistant coaches, and that coach said the Wizards are going to take a certain number of shots, and not all of them will necessarily be good shots. The Wizards launched a couple of threes that bricked, the Sonics got the ball back, and this sparked their 10-0 run. Of course, the Sonics are playing absolutely no defense, and Washington erased it with an 8-0 run of their own. It's the 5th game in 9 days for this team, but damn. Like I said, does this team really miss Reggie Evans THAT much?
The only positives here I can think of are that Ron Murray (8 pts) and Vitaly Potapenko (4) are actually doing something.
Both teams have made 18 shots from the field in the first half, and the Wizards have actually missed one more shot than the Sonics. The difference? Free throws. The Wizards got to the line 14 times and didn't miss in the first quarter, and they sit here at half perfect in 18 attempts from the ol' charity stripe.
Translation: the Sonics aren't shooting well, but the Wizards aren't shooting any better. They're just still buoyed from drawing a bunch of fouls on the Sonics early in the first quarter and going to the line for the rest of that quarter. As for the Sonics, I wish they'd realize that if their shots aren't falling, sooner or later they're just going to have to take the ball to the rack and start going to the line. This is how Ray Allen was able to stay effective when he was sick and his jumpshot wasn't there. The Sonics? They're just 5-for-7.
Halftime stats
Rashard Lewis 15 pts (6-10 FG), Ron Murray 8 pts (4-6 FG), Luke Ridnour 5 pts (2-2 FG), Ray Allen (1-7 FG) 4 pts/4 reb, Vlad Radmanovic 0 pts (1-6 FG), Antonio Daniels 0 pts (0-3 FG)
Let's face it. If you go through one half of basketball and Ray Allen is your leading rebounder, you're in trouble.
3rd qtr
11:18 nice Lewis offensive rebound off Allen miss, hooks one in right baseline 60-44 WSH. 10:43 up-and-under spinning shot in the lane 60-46. 10:18 James block leads to Ridnour behind-the-back pass to Lewis trailing for a SLAM. GREAT way to start out the half. Some games are won and lost depending on how you play coming out of the locker room at halftime. I'm not sure if the Sonics dug themselves too deep a hole, but they might still have a chance. 8:57 Ridnour running righty layup 64-52 WSH...Sonics 10-4 run to open half. 8:20 James hits both free throws...Sonics 12-5 run to open half. 7:59 Ridnour intercepts, Allen lays up...14-5 Seattle run. 7:04 Sonics TURNOVER on two straight possessions with bad passes. 6:41 Antawn Jamison lays in his missed free throw, WSH 72-56; this one's probably over -- I'm calling it. 6:25 Lewis three left corner after timeout WSH 72-59. 4:52 Allen stuffed by Haywood on the break, ouch. 2:57 Seattle takes 20...just like last night, NO bounces are going Seattle's way. If they make a run, it ends quickly and they can't make a defensive stop for the next three trips down the floor. If any ball is tipped on a rebound, they're usually not coming up with it. It's probably the long road trip, but if it's not that, it's just that the team is just plain not getting it done. One more loss like this and I think it's freak-out time. Sonics over the limit at 2:08. Good gracious, Rashard Lewis is on fire. Too bad he's the only one doing anything. Lewis scored 13 straight Sonic points to end the quarter.
After three quarters: 85-71
Ray Allen finally got into double digits with those two free throws at the end of the quarter. Sadly, this game looks too much like the one last night, except the Sonics didn't hold the Wizards to 15 points in the first quarter like they did with Orlando last night. I've already called it, but the Sonics aren't going to win this game unless the Wizards fall flat on their faces and the Sonics get dunks, layups, or free throws on every possession, or if Rashard stays hot. He's got 32 points after three quarters (he had 17 in the 3rd alone), and is the leading rebounder for the Sonics with 7. The Wizards are 22-for-24 from the line after three, and the Sonics are a mere 8-for-11. Did I mention the Sonics are probably about two steps slow on defense?
4th qtr
11:20 Fortson finally getting some offense down low WSH 85-73. 10:49 Daniels HITS A THREE WSH 85-76...first make after missing ten straight. 9:22 Fortson tips back a Lewis miss off a WSH turnover 85-78, answered on other end, then Ridnour can't finish the layup on the ensuing possession. Surprise. 8:21 KWAME BROWN SIGHTING!! Brown fouled Fortson. 7:00 Fortson lays in a Ridnour transition baseline lob 88-80, Fortson has ball go off him and out of bounds on next possession. 6:09 Allen transition layup 88-82, but 5:54 Ridnour plowed on Brown pick (no call), and Fortson fouls Arenas and one WSH 91-82. 4:35 Sonics make defensive stops, Ray Allen loses the handle on the ball, Fortson blows a layup and the Wizards cash in on the other end. In a weird note, Luke Ridnour is three points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist from a triple-double with 4:27 remaining. 4:15 Sonics get ball back, ball off Allen's fingertips out of bounds on the break. 3:52 Allen three left WSH 94-85. 1:40 Hughes dunk WSH 103-88, timeout. This one's definitely over now.
Final: Wizards 107, SuperSonics 96
---
The Sonics have a consecutive-game losing streak for the first time this year. They are 12-2 in back-to-back sets this year, and came away with a 3-2 road trip.
Last night the Sonics got great nights out of Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis. Tonight, Rashard Lewis did all of the heavy lifting, and Ray Allen had a crappy night, and though the bench was better than it was last night, nobody off of it really caught fire. Of course the Sonics shouldn't have won this game.
If you look at the boxscore and want to say that any one thing doomed the Sonics tonight, it was the free throws, and the Sonics arguably didn't recover from the first quarter, when the Wizards made all 14 shots they took from the free-throw line. Even worse, the Sonics shot better than the Wizards did from the floor, but Washington's free throws more than made up for the difference.
What about other in-boxscore reasons the Sonics lost? Turnovers. There's been some bad passes lately on the break, which mentally for a fan like me is like poking an inflated balloon. "All right, they're going to get an easy layup or a dunk, yeah!! DAMMIT, HOLD ONTO THE BALL/WATCH WHERE YOU'RE PASSING IT!!" Usually for the Sonics I consider about 13 or 14 turnovers (just based on boxscores) as the upper limit to what they should give away in order to still have a chance to win the game. Tonight they were in the 20s.
But what the boxscore doesn't tell with any one stat is the Sonics inability to make sustained defensive stops to preserve their runs. The Sonics could reel off a 9-0 run, but they'd always collapse and compound that with a couple of turnovers or missed shots (or have one guy down low trying to clear out for the rebound against three or four Wizards) and Washington would have no trouble erasing most or all of the run that the Sonics had just made. Of course, you can look into this, you could look into Reggie Evans being out for the last two games, or you could look into the fact that this was the Sonics' fifth game in nine days.
PEEK AT THE BOXSCORE
starters
Rashard Lewis 35 pts/11 reb (14-26 FG, 5-10 3pt, 2-4 free throws), Ray Allen 17 pts/6 reb/4 ast/4 stl (6-20 FG, 1-8 3pt, 4-4 free throws), Luke Ridnour 8 pts/7 reb/10 ast (3-6 FG, 2-4 free throws), Nick Collison 2 pts/3 reb (4 fouls, 4 turnovers, 11 min)
bench
Danny Fortson 8 pts/8 reb (5 fouls, 4 turnovers, 21 min), Ron Murray 8 pts (4-9 FG, 20 min), Vlad Radmanovic 5 pts/4 reb (2-8 FG, 1-5 3pt, 25 min), Antonio Daniels 5 pts/3 ast (2-6 FG, 24 min), Vitaly Potapenko 4 pts/3 reb (2-2 FG, 7 min)
Jerome James Watch
4 pts/4 reb/3 blk (1-2 FG, 5 fouls, 10 min)
team
shot 39-for-87 from the field (44.8%), shot 8-for-28 (28.6%) from downtown, shot 10-for-14 (71.4%) from the line, outrebounded Washington 49-43, turned the ball over 22 times (only forced 9 turnovers), allowed six Wizards to score in double figures
Again, I must say those numbers for the free throws sicken me. No Sonic went to the line for more than four shots tonight, and the team only went to the line 14 times in all. Last night I was complaining when they went to the line 24 times when their shots weren't falling (though they shot better tonight), so you can imagine what I'm thinking after this game. I mentioned it a few paragraphs ago, but if Ray Allen's missing a ton of shots, I wish there was a point where he could decide that he's just going to take everything to the rack, and unless he gets called for six charges, he should be okay because he only shoots a crazy 91% or whatever it is from the free throw line. A quick basket in transition can get you some momentun, sure, but like I said last night, if you're playing from behind and want to chip away at a lead, you can take the jumpshot route if they're falling, and you can keep going to the line if they're not (the clock doesn't elapse when you're at the free-throw line). The Sonics are a good free-throw shooting team, and I wish they'd realize this when their jumpers stop falling.
Once again, the positives (other than the third-straight double-double from Rashard Lewis) were Ron Murray and Vitaly Potapenko being able to contribute a bit.
I guess another positive is that Luke Ridnour has officially found his shot again, though shooting is not his main role on the team. Luke's five-game stretch of going 9-for-46 from the field has been since replaced with 27-for-51 shooting (52.9%) in the six games since that brutal stretch. Every time Ridnour puts up a line like he did tonight, it reminds me of what Brent Barry used to do here on a nightly basis. Luke was 2 points and 3 rebounds short of a triple-double tonight.
For the record, in the last three games, all in which Rashard Lewis has gotten double-doubles, the Sonics are 1-2.
It's eating at me, though. Isn't there a point where they're missing all these jumpers and a switch goes off in their heads saying "go to the rack and shoot free throws"? I know this team has been a great shooting team at times this year, but when it's the last game of a five-games-in-nine-days swing, you have to find another way to get it done.
On second thought, maybe the Sonics didn't have the legs to drive to the rack at all because it was their fifth game in nine days. I still think it could have worked though. They need to take advantage of the fact that they're a good free-throw shooting team again.
....aaaaaand I'm spent. Except just mentally, and not both mentally AND physically like the Sonics.
I asked Jinkies why the Sonics lost tonight, and the cat answered, "I am sorry, but I am into other cats only. I thank you for the offer."
I think if I'm ever in a bind trying to figure out how to close a post on this site, Jinkies is my security blanket.
/ Click for main page
