Wednesday, January 26, 2005
GAME 41: JAZZ 109, SUPERSONICS 100
Here's what I have for tonight's game. Postgame notes will follow the in-game stuff. After tonight, half the regular season will have passed, and what a surprise of a half-season it's been.
(final content posted ~9:20p)
1st qtr
9:58 Ridnour stuffs Lopez. 9:20 Ridnour from top of key SEA 4-2. 8:17 Harpring stuffed by James. 8:03 high running banker Ridnour SEA 6-5. 7:12 Lewis wide-open three off broken play SEA 9-5, answered by Giricek three. 6:06 2nd 24-second violation by the Sonics. 4:01 Allen three left side UTA 14-12. 2:46 Evans pushes off, 5 Sonic turnovers. 2:04 the Sonics can't stop Carols Boozer. 1:43 Daniels penetrates, stops, finds Collison for dunk UTA 20-14. 0:29.2 Collison hook low after getting tough pass from Allen UTA 22-18.
After one quarter -- Utah 21, Seattle 18
The Jazz shot too well, and the Sonics turned the ball over six times. The turnovers had a lot to do with the Sonics not being able to get much offense together.
2nd qtr
10:35 Sonics shooting 35%. 9:43 Daniels exploding drive to basket fingerroll and one UTA 28-23, Kirilenko in. 8:20 Ridnour high banking layup and foul UTA 30-28. 7:48 Daniels three UTA 32-31. 7:12 Ridnour drives and fouled again, hits both SEA 33-32. 6:02 Daniels off a screen fed by Ridnour easy layup UTA 38-36., answered by Okur. 4:05 Fortson shoulder on offense, 8th Sonic turnover. 3:47 Lewis hits two free throws, SEA 42-40. 3:06 Daniels three SEA 45-42. 1:54 Potapenko in on Lewis free throws, SEA 49-43. 0:55.2 Collison rebounds missed Daniels three, lays in SEA 51-43.
At halftime -- Seattle 51, Utah 47
In the foul count, Seattle was called for 13 personal fouls. Utah was called for 15 personals. That's 28 personal fouls called so far in the game.
The Sonics' shooting picked up, and Utah's early dead-on shooting cooled off a bit. The Sonics' early turnovers were a bit of a bugaboo once again, but it turns out that Utah turned the ball over more.
But in a game where a bunch of fouls are being called, the Sonics have hit all 16 of their free throws so far, thanks in part to finding themselves in the bonus with ample time remaining in the second quarter.
Reggie Evans is his usual rebounding self, leading the team with 6 at the half. Definitely not to be forgotten is Nick Collison's 6 points and 5 boards at the half. I'm liking the maturation of Nick Collison as an NBA player.
Of course, the big spark was Antonio Daniels and his 15 points off the bench.
So I guess the things I can see that aren't too nice for the Sonics are the turnovers, which are never good, and that the assist numbers are way down (Daniels and Ridnour have totalled 3). Of course, this is probably a wash since both are scoring in double figures at the half (Ridnour has 10).
3rd qtr
9:30 Allen baseline on Giricek layup SEA 53-48. 8:46 Ridnour from 18 SEA 55-52. 6:59 Allen three SEA 60-58. 6:06 Allen turnaround fadeaway tough shot SEA 62-60. 5:35 Lewis transition three SEA 65-60. 4:45 Allen with some moves and a layup...my goodness, fouled (12 3rd qtr pts) SEA 68-63. 4:03 Allen three off the inbound SEA 71-66 (he on fire). 2:32 Daniels baseline after selling a fake SEA 73-70. 1:45 Radmanovic blocks Bell, eventual 24-second violation. 1:25 Daniels drives, finds Collison open underneath, easy layup SEA 75-70. 0:15.1 Ridnour high baker again TIE 77-77.
After three quarters -- Utah 79, Seattle 77
Well, the Sonics' defense wasn't overly good or overly horrible in the first half, but they never gave up 30 points like they did in the third quarter. The Sonics' offense wasn't really achieving any sort of flow or coherence either, as Ray Allen was the only offense (though a good course) for a good part of the third quarter of play. He was forcing up a ton of shots and being a one-man show, but he was hitting a lot of the shots when no one else was really nailing anything.
What isn't good? The Sonics are being outrebounded 27-18, and Utah has 12 offensive boards.
4th qtr
9:25 Collison putback off a miss UTA 84-79. 6:20 Daniels quick midrange UTA 90-83, answered by Bell. 3:59 Allen baking three UTA 98-88. 3:28 Daniels strips Lopez ALL BALL, but whistled. 1:34 Ridnour three UTA 106-96. 0:00.6 Allen fouled, hits one UTA 109-100.
Final -- Utah 109, Seattle 100
What a mediocre January this is turning out to be. The Sonics are 7-6* this month.
[Edit Fri ~2:38a -- I originally listed this as 6-6. My bad.]
I guess what really ticks me off about this one isn't that the Sonics got beat by Carlos Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko, or even Mehmet Okur (they didn't). They got beat by Raul f&%#ing Lopez. Come on, people. That circus shot he made while he was falling down in the fourth quarter was just salt on the wound.
If there's only one thing you need to know about the Sonics' fate tonight, it's this: Vladimir Radmanovic was held scoreless.
That pretty much does it, though it wasn't the whole story.
Let's just put it this way. Everyone that was doing well on offense for the Sonics last night ended up royally sucking tonight (except Ray Allen, on second glance, whose field goal percentage was much better than I thought). Somehow, the Sonics were able to hang close until they punted the game away in the first few minutes of the fourth quarter. Also contributing factors were turnovers, bad defense (including too many Jazz offensive boards), and a new added wrinkle of Ray Allen finding himself in a bit of foul trouble.
Another thing flying south for tonight was the assists. Though Antonio Daniels and Luke Ridnour were scoring fairly well tonight (Daniels especially), the assists weren't being doled out very much tonight (certainly nowhere close to what Utah was doing). The Sonics weren't getting too many good looks tonight, and the low number of assists indicates that. When Ray Allen was the only offense for a stretch in the third quarter, he was forcing up a bunch of shots, though maybe he wasn't confident in actually being set up for a quality shot (who knows?).
Anyway, a season sweep of the Jazz would have just been too good, I guess. It didn't have to be that way, though.
PEEK AT THE BOXSCORE
starters
Ray Allen 27 pts/3 reb/3 ast (10-22 FG, 4-9 3pt, 3-5 free throws), Luke Ridnour 17 pts/3 reb/4 ast (6-14 FG, 1-5 3pt, 4-5 free throws), Rashard Lewis 15 pts/3 reb (4-15 FG, 3-7 3pt, 4-4 free throws), Reggie Evans 0 pts/7 reb/2 ast
bench
Antonio Daniels 25 pts/3 ast (7-10 FG, 2-4 3pt, 9-9 free throws, 21 min), Nick Collison 12 pts/8 reb (5-5 FG, 2-2 free throws, 19 min), Danny Fortson 4 pts/4 reb (0-1 FG, 4-4 free throws, 18 min), Vladimir Radmanovic 0 pts/2 reb/0 ast (0-8 FG, 0-4 3pt, 29 min), Vitaly Potapenko 0 pts/0 reb (no shots, 3 min)
Jerome James Watch
0 pts/2 reb/2 blk (two fouls, no shots, 14 min)
team
shot 32-for-77 (41.6%) from the field (Utah shot 50%), shot 10-for-29 (34.5%) from downtown (Utah shot 46.2%), shot 26-for-29 (89.7%) from the line (Utah shot 87.1%), were outrebounded 38-32, grabbed 11 offensive rebounds (Utah had 14), dished out 13 assists (Utah had 26), turned the ball over 17 times, bench was outscored by Utah's bench 48-41 (and outrebounded 15-14)
Nick Collison had a really nice game, I thought, after he blew a couple of easy baskets down low and a dunk last night. Antonio Daniels, coming off last night's 1-for-6 outing, was driving to the rack a lot and getting fouled, and that's what I like to see. I also like to see more than three assists next to his name though. Same with Ridnour and his four dimes.
Vladimir Radmanovic was horrible tonight just as much as he was good the night before. This we know. It's bad enough taking one weapon out of your offense, but when Rashard's having an off-night too, there's not really much you can do. Still, even with the Jazz shooting 50% from the field, the Sonics still had this one within reach going into the fourth quarter, but it didn't take long before it slipped away.
You know, it turns out I did find something positive tonight. Chocolate milk is a lot better if you make it with Hershey's chocolate syrup rather than NesQuik (fka Quik) mix. It goes down a lot smoother, and there aren't any chocolate powder clusters that sometimes make the NesQuik chocolate experience a tiny bit cumbersome.
If you really want Andrei Kirilenko's line tonight, it was 12 pts/2 reb/3 ast/2 stl/5 blk. He shot 4-for-9 from the field and hit 4 of 6 from the line in 20 minutes off the bench. I seem to remember a couple of those blocks coming in the 4th quarter.
I guess the one thing I'm worried after tonight is this -- dude, where's our defense? I'm thinking Coach McMillan has got to be ticked because aside from the game last night, the Sonics lately haven't been able to put together a solid defensive effort for 48 minutes. They might toss in a quarter here and there where they allow 23 points or something sane, but then the floodgates rip loose and they allow 28 (sometimes more) in the quarters surrounding it. I hope McMillan gets defense back into his players' heads soon because they need to string together a few games where they play more consistent defense. Sure, Utah hit 50% of their shots tonight, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're good shooters. It could mean that either they're getting really good looks, or the Sonics aren't doing everything necessary to prevent them from getting those good looks.
I asked Jinkies why the hell the Jazz kept their nickname after moving to Utah from New Orleans. His reply: "Prrrrrrrrrrski. Prrrrrrrrrrrski. Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrski. Prrrrrrrrrrrrrski."
Serbian cats purr differently. See? You learn something new every day.
(final content posted ~9:20p)
1st qtr
9:58 Ridnour stuffs Lopez. 9:20 Ridnour from top of key SEA 4-2. 8:17 Harpring stuffed by James. 8:03 high running banker Ridnour SEA 6-5. 7:12 Lewis wide-open three off broken play SEA 9-5, answered by Giricek three. 6:06 2nd 24-second violation by the Sonics. 4:01 Allen three left side UTA 14-12. 2:46 Evans pushes off, 5 Sonic turnovers. 2:04 the Sonics can't stop Carols Boozer. 1:43 Daniels penetrates, stops, finds Collison for dunk UTA 20-14. 0:29.2 Collison hook low after getting tough pass from Allen UTA 22-18.
After one quarter -- Utah 21, Seattle 18
The Jazz shot too well, and the Sonics turned the ball over six times. The turnovers had a lot to do with the Sonics not being able to get much offense together.
2nd qtr
10:35 Sonics shooting 35%. 9:43 Daniels exploding drive to basket fingerroll and one UTA 28-23, Kirilenko in. 8:20 Ridnour high banking layup and foul UTA 30-28. 7:48 Daniels three UTA 32-31. 7:12 Ridnour drives and fouled again, hits both SEA 33-32. 6:02 Daniels off a screen fed by Ridnour easy layup UTA 38-36., answered by Okur. 4:05 Fortson shoulder on offense, 8th Sonic turnover. 3:47 Lewis hits two free throws, SEA 42-40. 3:06 Daniels three SEA 45-42. 1:54 Potapenko in on Lewis free throws, SEA 49-43. 0:55.2 Collison rebounds missed Daniels three, lays in SEA 51-43.
At halftime -- Seattle 51, Utah 47
In the foul count, Seattle was called for 13 personal fouls. Utah was called for 15 personals. That's 28 personal fouls called so far in the game.
The Sonics' shooting picked up, and Utah's early dead-on shooting cooled off a bit. The Sonics' early turnovers were a bit of a bugaboo once again, but it turns out that Utah turned the ball over more.
But in a game where a bunch of fouls are being called, the Sonics have hit all 16 of their free throws so far, thanks in part to finding themselves in the bonus with ample time remaining in the second quarter.
Reggie Evans is his usual rebounding self, leading the team with 6 at the half. Definitely not to be forgotten is Nick Collison's 6 points and 5 boards at the half. I'm liking the maturation of Nick Collison as an NBA player.
Of course, the big spark was Antonio Daniels and his 15 points off the bench.
So I guess the things I can see that aren't too nice for the Sonics are the turnovers, which are never good, and that the assist numbers are way down (Daniels and Ridnour have totalled 3). Of course, this is probably a wash since both are scoring in double figures at the half (Ridnour has 10).
3rd qtr
9:30 Allen baseline on Giricek layup SEA 53-48. 8:46 Ridnour from 18 SEA 55-52. 6:59 Allen three SEA 60-58. 6:06 Allen turnaround fadeaway tough shot SEA 62-60. 5:35 Lewis transition three SEA 65-60. 4:45 Allen with some moves and a layup...my goodness, fouled (12 3rd qtr pts) SEA 68-63. 4:03 Allen three off the inbound SEA 71-66 (he on fire). 2:32 Daniels baseline after selling a fake SEA 73-70. 1:45 Radmanovic blocks Bell, eventual 24-second violation. 1:25 Daniels drives, finds Collison open underneath, easy layup SEA 75-70. 0:15.1 Ridnour high baker again TIE 77-77.
After three quarters -- Utah 79, Seattle 77
Well, the Sonics' defense wasn't overly good or overly horrible in the first half, but they never gave up 30 points like they did in the third quarter. The Sonics' offense wasn't really achieving any sort of flow or coherence either, as Ray Allen was the only offense (though a good course) for a good part of the third quarter of play. He was forcing up a ton of shots and being a one-man show, but he was hitting a lot of the shots when no one else was really nailing anything.
What isn't good? The Sonics are being outrebounded 27-18, and Utah has 12 offensive boards.
4th qtr
9:25 Collison putback off a miss UTA 84-79. 6:20 Daniels quick midrange UTA 90-83, answered by Bell. 3:59 Allen baking three UTA 98-88. 3:28 Daniels strips Lopez ALL BALL, but whistled. 1:34 Ridnour three UTA 106-96. 0:00.6 Allen fouled, hits one UTA 109-100.
Final -- Utah 109, Seattle 100
What a mediocre January this is turning out to be. The Sonics are 7-6* this month.
[Edit Fri ~2:38a -- I originally listed this as 6-6. My bad.]
I guess what really ticks me off about this one isn't that the Sonics got beat by Carlos Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko, or even Mehmet Okur (they didn't). They got beat by Raul f&%#ing Lopez. Come on, people. That circus shot he made while he was falling down in the fourth quarter was just salt on the wound.
If there's only one thing you need to know about the Sonics' fate tonight, it's this: Vladimir Radmanovic was held scoreless.
That pretty much does it, though it wasn't the whole story.
Let's just put it this way. Everyone that was doing well on offense for the Sonics last night ended up royally sucking tonight (except Ray Allen, on second glance, whose field goal percentage was much better than I thought). Somehow, the Sonics were able to hang close until they punted the game away in the first few minutes of the fourth quarter. Also contributing factors were turnovers, bad defense (including too many Jazz offensive boards), and a new added wrinkle of Ray Allen finding himself in a bit of foul trouble.
Another thing flying south for tonight was the assists. Though Antonio Daniels and Luke Ridnour were scoring fairly well tonight (Daniels especially), the assists weren't being doled out very much tonight (certainly nowhere close to what Utah was doing). The Sonics weren't getting too many good looks tonight, and the low number of assists indicates that. When Ray Allen was the only offense for a stretch in the third quarter, he was forcing up a bunch of shots, though maybe he wasn't confident in actually being set up for a quality shot (who knows?).
Anyway, a season sweep of the Jazz would have just been too good, I guess. It didn't have to be that way, though.
PEEK AT THE BOXSCORE
starters
Ray Allen 27 pts/3 reb/3 ast (10-22 FG, 4-9 3pt, 3-5 free throws), Luke Ridnour 17 pts/3 reb/4 ast (6-14 FG, 1-5 3pt, 4-5 free throws), Rashard Lewis 15 pts/3 reb (4-15 FG, 3-7 3pt, 4-4 free throws), Reggie Evans 0 pts/7 reb/2 ast
bench
Antonio Daniels 25 pts/3 ast (7-10 FG, 2-4 3pt, 9-9 free throws, 21 min), Nick Collison 12 pts/8 reb (5-5 FG, 2-2 free throws, 19 min), Danny Fortson 4 pts/4 reb (0-1 FG, 4-4 free throws, 18 min), Vladimir Radmanovic 0 pts/2 reb/0 ast (0-8 FG, 0-4 3pt, 29 min), Vitaly Potapenko 0 pts/0 reb (no shots, 3 min)
Jerome James Watch
0 pts/2 reb/2 blk (two fouls, no shots, 14 min)
team
shot 32-for-77 (41.6%) from the field (Utah shot 50%), shot 10-for-29 (34.5%) from downtown (Utah shot 46.2%), shot 26-for-29 (89.7%) from the line (Utah shot 87.1%), were outrebounded 38-32, grabbed 11 offensive rebounds (Utah had 14), dished out 13 assists (Utah had 26), turned the ball over 17 times, bench was outscored by Utah's bench 48-41 (and outrebounded 15-14)
Nick Collison had a really nice game, I thought, after he blew a couple of easy baskets down low and a dunk last night. Antonio Daniels, coming off last night's 1-for-6 outing, was driving to the rack a lot and getting fouled, and that's what I like to see. I also like to see more than three assists next to his name though. Same with Ridnour and his four dimes.
Vladimir Radmanovic was horrible tonight just as much as he was good the night before. This we know. It's bad enough taking one weapon out of your offense, but when Rashard's having an off-night too, there's not really much you can do. Still, even with the Jazz shooting 50% from the field, the Sonics still had this one within reach going into the fourth quarter, but it didn't take long before it slipped away.
You know, it turns out I did find something positive tonight. Chocolate milk is a lot better if you make it with Hershey's chocolate syrup rather than NesQuik (fka Quik) mix. It goes down a lot smoother, and there aren't any chocolate powder clusters that sometimes make the NesQuik chocolate experience a tiny bit cumbersome.
If you really want Andrei Kirilenko's line tonight, it was 12 pts/2 reb/3 ast/2 stl/5 blk. He shot 4-for-9 from the field and hit 4 of 6 from the line in 20 minutes off the bench. I seem to remember a couple of those blocks coming in the 4th quarter.
I guess the one thing I'm worried after tonight is this -- dude, where's our defense? I'm thinking Coach McMillan has got to be ticked because aside from the game last night, the Sonics lately haven't been able to put together a solid defensive effort for 48 minutes. They might toss in a quarter here and there where they allow 23 points or something sane, but then the floodgates rip loose and they allow 28 (sometimes more) in the quarters surrounding it. I hope McMillan gets defense back into his players' heads soon because they need to string together a few games where they play more consistent defense. Sure, Utah hit 50% of their shots tonight, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're good shooters. It could mean that either they're getting really good looks, or the Sonics aren't doing everything necessary to prevent them from getting those good looks.
I asked Jinkies why the hell the Jazz kept their nickname after moving to Utah from New Orleans. His reply: "Prrrrrrrrrrski. Prrrrrrrrrrrski. Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrski. Prrrrrrrrrrrrrski."
Serbian cats purr differently. See? You learn something new every day.
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