Sunday, January 16, 2005
GAME 36: SUPERSONICS 105, CAVALIERS 97
Here's some stuff for tonight's game, with postgame thoughts coming after the in-game stuff, as usual.
(final content posted ~10:09p)
Rashard Lewis is once again a scratch tonight with knee tendinitis.
1st qtr
10:46 Allen baseline nifty reverse layup SEA 4-0. 10:06 Daniels nifty circle around defense layup SEA 6-0. 9:12 Daniels blows by for another layup, Ridnour steals inbounds, Ray Allen three SEA 11-2. 8:30 ANOTHER Daniels layup SEA 13-4. 4:33 Daniels from top of key SEA 21-15, answered by Gooden foul and one. 1:28 nice ball movement Radmanovic stop in lane, to Collison for slam SEA 26-22. 0:48.7 Radmanovic left open for three SEA 29-22.
After one quarter -- Seattle 29, Cleveland 24
The Sonics jumped out early in the quarter, and the Cavaliers slowly got back into it and eventually got within two points. The Collison dunbk and the Radmanovic three toward the end of the quarter gave the Sonics a better grip on the lead though. The Sonics gave up 24 points in the quarter, which wouldn't usually be good, but LeBron James hasn't gotten all the way to the basket that much, so that's a positive. In an odd note, Drew Gooden scored 10 in the first quarter, leading all scorers.
2nd qtr
11:33 Murray down low baseline pass Collison slam SEA 31-26. 9:19 Allen takes it right to Varejao for a layup SEA 33-28. 7:18 Vlad bad pass for 9th Sonic turnover. 7:03 Pavlovic gets the first Cleveland lead CLE 35-34. 6:12 Allen with moves on Z SEA 38-37. 5:29 Radmanovic right side three SEA 41-37. 3:48 Allen left side wide-open three SEA 48-41, answered by LeBron. 2:48 Daniels and Radmanovic on 2-on-1 break, Vlad slams SEA 50-44. 2:14 Vitaly over-the-back loose-ball foul is Sonics' 10th turnover. 0:54.8 Radmanovic losses dribble out of bounds, 11th Sonic turnover. 0:31 Allen turnover, 12th of half for Sonics. 0:05 Vlad three CLE 55-53.
Halftime -- Cleveland 55, Seattle 53
Well, the Sonics did go on a 7-0 lead at one point, but they've turned the ball over 13 times in the first half according to the broadcast. That's a lot. That should be enough for a whole game. Sonic assistant coach Dwane Casey noted that it's the turnovers that are leading to most of LeBron's points (fast break).
Half stats
Vladimir Radmanovic has 15 off the bench, and Ray Allen has 14 points. Antonio Daniels has 8 (four assists too), Luke Ridnour has 7. Eerily, Daniels leads the team in rebounds with 4, but five other Sonics have 3. Vitaly Potapenko had two offensive rebounds in the same possession, which normally would lead to something good, except the Sonics found a way to turn it over.
The Sonics are shooting 50% from the floor in the first half, and they're outrebounding the Cavaliers 22-14 (SportsLine), but the turnovers are doing them in right now. I'll go on a limb and say the Sonics would probably have a ten-point lead right now if they just took care of the ball in the first half.
3rd qtr
11:41 Jerome James (3 fouls) draws a charge from Z. 11:32 ball off Reggie Evans' hands, 14th Sonic turnover. 9:13 Daniels drive and kick to James for slam CLE 59-55. 7:11 Evans drive to basket, loses dribble out of bounds. 6:38 James over Z CLE 61-59. 6:24 Ridnour foul on floor, Sonics at limit, then LeBron hits a three. 5:46 I never knew physical taunting was an infraction, but it just got called on Ira Newble. 4:44 Vlad gets two bounces and in on a three CLE 66-63, answered by Z basket on nice pass from LeBron. 3:35 Daniels called for charge on layup, 17th turnover, Z layin CLE 72-63. 2:54 Cleveland over limit, Allen hits two free throws. 2:26 Fortson hits one free throw CLE 72-66, Vlad fouls on the rebound. 2:17 Ridnour nice drive layup (bounces), foul and one CLE 74-69. 1:43 Allen fouled, hits two CLE 74-71. 0:59.2 Allen running in transition, contact foul sends him to line, hits one CLE 74-72. 0:33.9 Daniels on break finds Fortson behind the defense, easy layup TIE 74-74. 0:07.2 Snow fouls Daniels, sends to line hits two SEA 76-75, 13-2 run since Fortson came in (nine free throws).
After three quarters -- Seattle 76, Cleveland 75
Wow. I'm extremely happy with the way the Sonics got back into this game. Cleveland was in the penalty pretty early in the quarter, and the Sonics kept going to the rack and/or drawing contact and going to the free-throw line. Guess what? They're a great free-throw shooting team. If you ask me, going to the rack as often as possible should be the Sonics' strategy any time they get behind by a few baskets. Thanks to all the free throws, the Sonics actually lead after three quarters, after being down by 9 at one point. The Sonics now have four in double figures (Allen 20, Radmanovic 18, Daniels 10, Ridnour 10).
The Sonics only turned the ball over three times in the third quarter.
4th qtr
11:44 Murray throws out of bounds, 18th Sonic turnover, LeBron hits jumper. 10:47 Fortson found found down low, fouled, hits two SEA 78-77. 10:28 Daniels wide-open three SEA 81-77. 9:22 Murray turnover outdone by weird Snow zoo...I can't describe it. 9:11 Ridnour steps on baseline after rebound. 8:38 Radmanovic straightaway three with hand in face SEA 84-79. 8:17 Z CHARGE on Fortson, his 5th foul. 8:01 pick-and-roll Ridnour to Fortson driving lane layup SEA 86-79, 9-2 SEA run. 7:49 Fortson stuffs LeBron! 7:17 LeBron goes right back up against Fortson for a foul and one. 7:08 Ridnour untouched to the glass for a layup SEA 88-82. 6:48 LeBron charges Daniels, blocks Collison on ensuing possession. 5:46 Collison fouls, Cleveland gets about three or four offensive boards on the possession. 5:13 Collison loses ball down low, 20 turnovers. 4:30 Allen gets his own miss, lays it in down low over two Cavs SEA 90-83, his first basket of second half. 3:59 Fortson thankfully back in. 3:13 Ridnour fouls, Gooden to line (over limit) hits two SEA 90-86. 2:58 VLAD SLAM through the lane SEA 92-86. 1:55 Lucious Harris SEA 92-88, Cavs had missed eight straight shots. 1:38 Allen running righty baseline SEA 94-88, answered by LeBron three. 1:13 ALLEN THREE SEA 97-91. 0:42.1 Fortson fouls out on a moving high pick. 0:28.4 Ridnour fouled, hits two SEA 99-93, IT'S A FOULFEST.
Final -- Seattle 105, Cleveland 97
===
Mabel Heins, a Sonic fan 97 years young today, said during the game to Cara Capuano that she likes the Sonics' togetherness this year. Mabel received the gameball from Luke Ridnour after the buzzer. Mabel rules.
As disturbing as it was to see the Sonics nearly kick this game away by turning the ball over so many times, it was just as gratifying to see the Sonics hold on to the ball better in the second half and most importantly, go to the free-throw line, where they got their lead back and won this game. Having the Sonics get to the free-throw line a bunch of times is always a sound strategy, if you ask me.
In somewhat similar fashion to the last game against the Warriors, the Sonics allowed a ton of points in the first half (55 tonight), but they played better defense in the second half, allowing only 42 points. However, a lot of that had to do with the fact that the Sonics weren't turning over the ball as much and therefore the Cavaliers weren't able to get onto the fast break as many times, i.e., less high-flying LeBron James dunks, as fun as they are to watch.
The Sonics jumped out to a great start in this game before they started turning the ball over en masse in the first half and Cleveland got back into the game. The Sonics led by as much as 11 at one point in the first half, but their sloppy play in the first half and into part of the third quarter resulted in Cleveland getting ahead. The Cavs' largest lead of the game was 9, which was in the third quarter.
Then the Cavaliers found themselves in the penalty late in the third quarter with about three minutes to go, roughly coincident with Danny Fortson coming back into the game. With Fortson in, the Sonics reeled off a 13-2 run to end the third quarter, with 9 of those 13 Sonic points being from the free-throw line.
The Sonics were starting to break down the Cavaliers' defense a bit in the fourth quarter. In a weird note, even Ray Allen was scoring in that fourth quarter. Usually it'd be unusual for me to say that, but he didn't get his first basket of the second half until there was 4:30 left in the game. Once Fortson sat down on the bench for a bit in the fourth quarter, I thought the Sonics might blow the lead they'd built, and early indications were pointing to that. However, the Sonics were able to come away with some clutch threes and some nice plays in the low post, whether they were open finds down low or just driving layups from Luke Ridnour or Antonio Daniels.
Before I go deep into the boxscore here, I'll just say that Vladimir Radmanovic had a great night (double-double), Antonio Daniels had a great night, and Luke Ridnour had a career-high night.
PEEK AT THE BOXSCORE
starters
Ray Allen 27 pts/6 reb (8-19 FG, 3-9 3pt, 8-9 free throws, SIX TURNOVERS), Luke Ridnour career-high 18 pts/4 reb/4 ast (4-13 FG, 9-9 free throws), Antonio Daniels 15 pts/6 reb/8 ast, Reggie Evans 2 pts/7 reb (16 min)
bench
Vlad Radmanovic 23 pts/11 reb (7-11 FG, 5-7 3pt, 4-4 free throws), Danny Fortson 7 pts/5 reb (2-2 FG, 3-4 free throws, fouled out -- 16 minutes), Nick Collison 5 pts/5 reb (16 min), Ron Murray 0 pts/0 reb/1 ast (3 turnovers, 14 min), Vitaly Potapenko 0 pts/3 reb (5 min)
Jerome James Watch
8 pts/2 reb/1 ast/2 blk (4-4 FG, 16 min)...hold your horses, JJ! Eight points?!
team
shot 33-for-72 (45.8%) from the field, shot 29-for-32 from the line (90.6%), shot 10-for-22 from downtown (45.5%), outrebounded Cleveland 50-31, turned the ball over 21 times for 13 Cleveland points (Cleveland turned it over 12 times for 15 Sonic points), beat Cleveland for second-chance points 19-7, bench outscored Cleveland bench 35-15 (outrebounded them 25-10)
Okay, so I was so hung up on the free throws that I forgot to mention how key the three was for the Sonics. Radmanovic hit 5 of the Sonics' 10 threes, and Ray Allen hit three. Ray Allen didn't warm up in the second half until very late, but the baskets he did have were very well-timed as the Sonics were trying to pull away.
It might be a weird thing to point out, but I thought Radmanovic had kind as quiet a double-double** as you could get. Although I did realize he hit a few threes, and was shooting the ball really well, I never imagined him pulling down 11 rebounds in this game at any point while I was watching it. Either way, Radmanovic got himself another double-double, and that is encouraging. Even more encouraging would be if he comes out in the next game and pours in about 15 or 16 to give some semblance of consistency. If he comes in and puts in about 6 points, then everyone will be pointing to his inconsistency, etc. Again, I point to the track of Rashard Lewis, who was largely enigmatic before becoming one of the Sonics' horses this year. If Radmanovic is inconsistent this year but can have one awesome game every few games, then he should be absolutely nuts next year. Hopefully it's for this team.
It was a career high for Luke Ridnour in points tonight, though it was partly because he was fouled three times down the stretch when the Cavaliers were fouling with the clock running down, and Luke was the first guy touching the ball off the inbound. Luke drained all six of his free throws, ending up with his 18.
Lastly, hooray for the Sonics' ability to hold down anyone not named LeBron James (35 pts), Drew Gooden (27), and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (11). None of the other Cavaliers had over six points.
The Sonics managed to win without Rashard Lewis. They haven't flowed as smoothly since before Reggie Evans went down with the stomach ailment, foiling the streak of having the same starting lineup since the beginning of the season. Now that Evans can hold his food down, Rashard Lewis has right knee tendinitis. The Sonics can manage without him, but they're hoping (and I'm hoping) that Rashard can be up to speed soon.
I asked Jinkies what he thought about the Sonics using free throws to get back into this game. His reply: "Lkia;df;ebn oki ohnw j;oie kj;o jka/;oi ;lkjoin oioi inoin. I apologize for this, my tail was on keyboard. I am fine, thank you for asking."
That's priceless.
VICTORY FOR SONICS!!
[**Edit Mon ~1:01a -- I originally said "triple-double." I don't think there is a such thing as a quiet triple-double. My, what a mistake. Another reason for me to proofread these things before I put them up.]
(final content posted ~10:09p)
Rashard Lewis is once again a scratch tonight with knee tendinitis.
1st qtr
10:46 Allen baseline nifty reverse layup SEA 4-0. 10:06 Daniels nifty circle around defense layup SEA 6-0. 9:12 Daniels blows by for another layup, Ridnour steals inbounds, Ray Allen three SEA 11-2. 8:30 ANOTHER Daniels layup SEA 13-4. 4:33 Daniels from top of key SEA 21-15, answered by Gooden foul and one. 1:28 nice ball movement Radmanovic stop in lane, to Collison for slam SEA 26-22. 0:48.7 Radmanovic left open for three SEA 29-22.
After one quarter -- Seattle 29, Cleveland 24
The Sonics jumped out early in the quarter, and the Cavaliers slowly got back into it and eventually got within two points. The Collison dunbk and the Radmanovic three toward the end of the quarter gave the Sonics a better grip on the lead though. The Sonics gave up 24 points in the quarter, which wouldn't usually be good, but LeBron James hasn't gotten all the way to the basket that much, so that's a positive. In an odd note, Drew Gooden scored 10 in the first quarter, leading all scorers.
2nd qtr
11:33 Murray down low baseline pass Collison slam SEA 31-26. 9:19 Allen takes it right to Varejao for a layup SEA 33-28. 7:18 Vlad bad pass for 9th Sonic turnover. 7:03 Pavlovic gets the first Cleveland lead CLE 35-34. 6:12 Allen with moves on Z SEA 38-37. 5:29 Radmanovic right side three SEA 41-37. 3:48 Allen left side wide-open three SEA 48-41, answered by LeBron. 2:48 Daniels and Radmanovic on 2-on-1 break, Vlad slams SEA 50-44. 2:14 Vitaly over-the-back loose-ball foul is Sonics' 10th turnover. 0:54.8 Radmanovic losses dribble out of bounds, 11th Sonic turnover. 0:31 Allen turnover, 12th of half for Sonics. 0:05 Vlad three CLE 55-53.
Halftime -- Cleveland 55, Seattle 53
Well, the Sonics did go on a 7-0 lead at one point, but they've turned the ball over 13 times in the first half according to the broadcast. That's a lot. That should be enough for a whole game. Sonic assistant coach Dwane Casey noted that it's the turnovers that are leading to most of LeBron's points (fast break).
Half stats
Vladimir Radmanovic has 15 off the bench, and Ray Allen has 14 points. Antonio Daniels has 8 (four assists too), Luke Ridnour has 7. Eerily, Daniels leads the team in rebounds with 4, but five other Sonics have 3. Vitaly Potapenko had two offensive rebounds in the same possession, which normally would lead to something good, except the Sonics found a way to turn it over.
The Sonics are shooting 50% from the floor in the first half, and they're outrebounding the Cavaliers 22-14 (SportsLine), but the turnovers are doing them in right now. I'll go on a limb and say the Sonics would probably have a ten-point lead right now if they just took care of the ball in the first half.
3rd qtr
11:41 Jerome James (3 fouls) draws a charge from Z. 11:32 ball off Reggie Evans' hands, 14th Sonic turnover. 9:13 Daniels drive and kick to James for slam CLE 59-55. 7:11 Evans drive to basket, loses dribble out of bounds. 6:38 James over Z CLE 61-59. 6:24 Ridnour foul on floor, Sonics at limit, then LeBron hits a three. 5:46 I never knew physical taunting was an infraction, but it just got called on Ira Newble. 4:44 Vlad gets two bounces and in on a three CLE 66-63, answered by Z basket on nice pass from LeBron. 3:35 Daniels called for charge on layup, 17th turnover, Z layin CLE 72-63. 2:54 Cleveland over limit, Allen hits two free throws. 2:26 Fortson hits one free throw CLE 72-66, Vlad fouls on the rebound. 2:17 Ridnour nice drive layup (bounces), foul and one CLE 74-69. 1:43 Allen fouled, hits two CLE 74-71. 0:59.2 Allen running in transition, contact foul sends him to line, hits one CLE 74-72. 0:33.9 Daniels on break finds Fortson behind the defense, easy layup TIE 74-74. 0:07.2 Snow fouls Daniels, sends to line hits two SEA 76-75, 13-2 run since Fortson came in (nine free throws).
After three quarters -- Seattle 76, Cleveland 75
Wow. I'm extremely happy with the way the Sonics got back into this game. Cleveland was in the penalty pretty early in the quarter, and the Sonics kept going to the rack and/or drawing contact and going to the free-throw line. Guess what? They're a great free-throw shooting team. If you ask me, going to the rack as often as possible should be the Sonics' strategy any time they get behind by a few baskets. Thanks to all the free throws, the Sonics actually lead after three quarters, after being down by 9 at one point. The Sonics now have four in double figures (Allen 20, Radmanovic 18, Daniels 10, Ridnour 10).
The Sonics only turned the ball over three times in the third quarter.
4th qtr
11:44 Murray throws out of bounds, 18th Sonic turnover, LeBron hits jumper. 10:47 Fortson found found down low, fouled, hits two SEA 78-77. 10:28 Daniels wide-open three SEA 81-77. 9:22 Murray turnover outdone by weird Snow zoo...I can't describe it. 9:11 Ridnour steps on baseline after rebound. 8:38 Radmanovic straightaway three with hand in face SEA 84-79. 8:17 Z CHARGE on Fortson, his 5th foul. 8:01 pick-and-roll Ridnour to Fortson driving lane layup SEA 86-79, 9-2 SEA run. 7:49 Fortson stuffs LeBron! 7:17 LeBron goes right back up against Fortson for a foul and one. 7:08 Ridnour untouched to the glass for a layup SEA 88-82. 6:48 LeBron charges Daniels, blocks Collison on ensuing possession. 5:46 Collison fouls, Cleveland gets about three or four offensive boards on the possession. 5:13 Collison loses ball down low, 20 turnovers. 4:30 Allen gets his own miss, lays it in down low over two Cavs SEA 90-83, his first basket of second half. 3:59 Fortson thankfully back in. 3:13 Ridnour fouls, Gooden to line (over limit) hits two SEA 90-86. 2:58 VLAD SLAM through the lane SEA 92-86. 1:55 Lucious Harris SEA 92-88, Cavs had missed eight straight shots. 1:38 Allen running righty baseline SEA 94-88, answered by LeBron three. 1:13 ALLEN THREE SEA 97-91. 0:42.1 Fortson fouls out on a moving high pick. 0:28.4 Ridnour fouled, hits two SEA 99-93, IT'S A FOULFEST.
Final -- Seattle 105, Cleveland 97
===
Mabel Heins, a Sonic fan 97 years young today, said during the game to Cara Capuano that she likes the Sonics' togetherness this year. Mabel received the gameball from Luke Ridnour after the buzzer. Mabel rules.
As disturbing as it was to see the Sonics nearly kick this game away by turning the ball over so many times, it was just as gratifying to see the Sonics hold on to the ball better in the second half and most importantly, go to the free-throw line, where they got their lead back and won this game. Having the Sonics get to the free-throw line a bunch of times is always a sound strategy, if you ask me.
In somewhat similar fashion to the last game against the Warriors, the Sonics allowed a ton of points in the first half (55 tonight), but they played better defense in the second half, allowing only 42 points. However, a lot of that had to do with the fact that the Sonics weren't turning over the ball as much and therefore the Cavaliers weren't able to get onto the fast break as many times, i.e., less high-flying LeBron James dunks, as fun as they are to watch.
The Sonics jumped out to a great start in this game before they started turning the ball over en masse in the first half and Cleveland got back into the game. The Sonics led by as much as 11 at one point in the first half, but their sloppy play in the first half and into part of the third quarter resulted in Cleveland getting ahead. The Cavs' largest lead of the game was 9, which was in the third quarter.
Then the Cavaliers found themselves in the penalty late in the third quarter with about three minutes to go, roughly coincident with Danny Fortson coming back into the game. With Fortson in, the Sonics reeled off a 13-2 run to end the third quarter, with 9 of those 13 Sonic points being from the free-throw line.
The Sonics were starting to break down the Cavaliers' defense a bit in the fourth quarter. In a weird note, even Ray Allen was scoring in that fourth quarter. Usually it'd be unusual for me to say that, but he didn't get his first basket of the second half until there was 4:30 left in the game. Once Fortson sat down on the bench for a bit in the fourth quarter, I thought the Sonics might blow the lead they'd built, and early indications were pointing to that. However, the Sonics were able to come away with some clutch threes and some nice plays in the low post, whether they were open finds down low or just driving layups from Luke Ridnour or Antonio Daniels.
Before I go deep into the boxscore here, I'll just say that Vladimir Radmanovic had a great night (double-double), Antonio Daniels had a great night, and Luke Ridnour had a career-high night.
PEEK AT THE BOXSCORE
starters
Ray Allen 27 pts/6 reb (8-19 FG, 3-9 3pt, 8-9 free throws, SIX TURNOVERS), Luke Ridnour career-high 18 pts/4 reb/4 ast (4-13 FG, 9-9 free throws), Antonio Daniels 15 pts/6 reb/8 ast, Reggie Evans 2 pts/7 reb (16 min)
bench
Vlad Radmanovic 23 pts/11 reb (7-11 FG, 5-7 3pt, 4-4 free throws), Danny Fortson 7 pts/5 reb (2-2 FG, 3-4 free throws, fouled out -- 16 minutes), Nick Collison 5 pts/5 reb (16 min), Ron Murray 0 pts/0 reb/1 ast (3 turnovers, 14 min), Vitaly Potapenko 0 pts/3 reb (5 min)
Jerome James Watch
8 pts/2 reb/1 ast/2 blk (4-4 FG, 16 min)...hold your horses, JJ! Eight points?!
team
shot 33-for-72 (45.8%) from the field, shot 29-for-32 from the line (90.6%), shot 10-for-22 from downtown (45.5%), outrebounded Cleveland 50-31, turned the ball over 21 times for 13 Cleveland points (Cleveland turned it over 12 times for 15 Sonic points), beat Cleveland for second-chance points 19-7, bench outscored Cleveland bench 35-15 (outrebounded them 25-10)
Okay, so I was so hung up on the free throws that I forgot to mention how key the three was for the Sonics. Radmanovic hit 5 of the Sonics' 10 threes, and Ray Allen hit three. Ray Allen didn't warm up in the second half until very late, but the baskets he did have were very well-timed as the Sonics were trying to pull away.
It might be a weird thing to point out, but I thought Radmanovic had kind as quiet a double-double** as you could get. Although I did realize he hit a few threes, and was shooting the ball really well, I never imagined him pulling down 11 rebounds in this game at any point while I was watching it. Either way, Radmanovic got himself another double-double, and that is encouraging. Even more encouraging would be if he comes out in the next game and pours in about 15 or 16 to give some semblance of consistency. If he comes in and puts in about 6 points, then everyone will be pointing to his inconsistency, etc. Again, I point to the track of Rashard Lewis, who was largely enigmatic before becoming one of the Sonics' horses this year. If Radmanovic is inconsistent this year but can have one awesome game every few games, then he should be absolutely nuts next year. Hopefully it's for this team.
It was a career high for Luke Ridnour in points tonight, though it was partly because he was fouled three times down the stretch when the Cavaliers were fouling with the clock running down, and Luke was the first guy touching the ball off the inbound. Luke drained all six of his free throws, ending up with his 18.
Lastly, hooray for the Sonics' ability to hold down anyone not named LeBron James (35 pts), Drew Gooden (27), and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (11). None of the other Cavaliers had over six points.
The Sonics managed to win without Rashard Lewis. They haven't flowed as smoothly since before Reggie Evans went down with the stomach ailment, foiling the streak of having the same starting lineup since the beginning of the season. Now that Evans can hold his food down, Rashard Lewis has right knee tendinitis. The Sonics can manage without him, but they're hoping (and I'm hoping) that Rashard can be up to speed soon.
I asked Jinkies what he thought about the Sonics using free throws to get back into this game. His reply: "Lkia;df;ebn oki ohnw j;oie kj;o jka/;oi ;lkjoin oioi inoin. I apologize for this, my tail was on keyboard. I am fine, thank you for asking."
That's priceless.
VICTORY FOR SONICS!!
[**Edit Mon ~1:01a -- I originally said "triple-double." I don't think there is a such thing as a quiet triple-double. My, what a mistake. Another reason for me to proofread these things before I put them up.]
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