Monday, May 02, 2005
GAME 4: SUPERSONICS 115, KINGS 102
SuperSonics 115, Kings 102 (Seattle leads best-of-seven series 3-1)
The Heat wore their red jerseys, so I guess the Sonics figured they could go yellow. It worked, so I'm not complaining.
The game sure didn't come anywhere near as easily as the final score might indicate. You figured Ray Allen had to go off at least once in the playoffs, though, and he certainly lived up to that potential.
The first half was almost a carbon copy of the first half of Game 3. The Sonics would play okay, have a lapse or two, and then Sacramento would negate any run the Sonics might have made.
The one thing I noticed throughout the first quarter of play was that any tipped balls or tipped rebounds never ended up in Seattle hands. The teams traded baskets for the first portion of the first quarter until the Kings put together a 9-0 run, ending with Peja Stojakovic sticking a jumper off a screen with 1:23 to go. Though Stojakovic got rolling in the first half for the first time in the series, the run made it seem eerily like Game 3. Danny Fortson finished off a screen-and-roll to bring the Sonics within six (26-20) with 7.5 seconds remaining. Mike Bibby ran the ball the other way and pulled up to sink a long three with 1.3 seconds left. Worse yet, Vladimir Radmanovic fell asleep in backcourt on the inbound pass, and Stojakovic intercepted it and hit a midrange jumper to beat the buzzer. The Kings had scored five very quick points, and a six point lead seems a lot more surmountable than an 11-point lead. The Kings had ended the quarter on a 16-4 run. The Sonics once again weren't sealing off the paint too well, but they were leaving Brad Miller open on the perimeter too much, and he sank three jumpers. The Sonics shot 8-for-18 in the first quarter, but the Kings shot 13-for-26.
The Sonics would make a run in the second quarter, only to leave the quarter with a bigger deficit than they began with. Stojakovic blew all the way to the glass for a layup on the first possession of the quarter, setting the tone for the first part of the quarter. Antonio Daniels drove and kicked to Fortson for a layup on the other end, but the Kings would score the next eight points, capped off by Corliss (taunted in some circles as "Scoreless") Williamson dunking on a fast break and cleaning up a missed shot. The Kings were suddenly up by 19 (41-22) with 9:50 to play in the half, and they were leading 11-0 on second-chance points. The Sonics would eventually play faster, though smarter. Allen had a fingerroll layup and was fouled. He hit a three after Sacramento missed a shot on the other end. He cut to the basket for a layup after Jerome James had grabbed the offensive board. He threw an alley-oop pass to Radmanovic. He found James to finish off a fast break with a dunk and a three-point play. These plays and a few others got the Sonics to within four at 43-39 with 6:30 left in the half.
Seattle would get within three points three more times in the remainder of the half. Allen found James cutting to the basket again for another dunk (47-44, 4:51), Radmanovic found Allen under the basket for an easy layup (49-46, 4:23), and Allen hit another layup down low after flashing a spin move (51-48, 4:00). Then the Kings took a 12-4 run into the final minute of the half. Rashard Lewis made a sloppy crosscourt pass with 56 seconds remaining which was the Sonics' 11th turnover of the half. Ray Allen had 19 points at halftime.
Sacramento led 68-56 at halftime. The Kings had taken 52 shots, whereas the Sonics only got off 35. In a telling stat, the Kings were pounding the Sonics 10-3 on the offensive glass. Worse yet, the Sonics had scored 36 points in the second quarter. They allowed quarters of 31 and 37, however, and that indicates some porous defense.
The Sonics were able to chip away at the lead in the third quarter, and it helped that they scored the first six points of the half. James passed out of a double-team to Ridnour, whose midrange pop was the first basket of the half. Allen hit a midrange jumper off a James pick, and James was fouled down low and hit his free throws. Rashard Lewis had a baseline jam (highlight reel) with 6:41 left to bring the Sonics within five (73-68). Then came a weird turnover sequence, ending in Allen hitting a layup to bring the Sonics within five again (75-70, 5:45). Earlier in the quarter, the Allen/Bibby sequence happened where Allen turned the ball over and tapped it away from Bibby not long after (this got onto the highlight reels). Allen hit a three to beat the shot clock and got the Sonics to within TWO points at 75-73 with 3:11 to go. The Sonics were within ONE after Radmanovic hit a three on the right side with 2:10 to go, and the Kings' lead was only 77-76. The quarter ended with the Kings up 84-80. The Sonics came close, but never had the lead in the quarter. The nicest thing, though, was that they scored 28 points and held the Kings to just 12. Amazing.
Allen curled off a screen to hit a midrange shot, the first basket of the quarter, which got the Sonics within two at 84-82. James hit a jumphook in the key to get the Sonics within one at 88-87 with 10:06 remaining. Nick Collison drew a key charge on Miller, and Allen hit a three on the other end to get the Sonics their first lead since early in the first quarter, 90-88 with 9:19 to go. Kevin Calabro on the local broadcast exclaimed that Allen was "hearing signals from other planets!" Allen went to the glass for another layup at the 8:33 mark, then Collison drew yet another charge, this one on Williamson. On the other end, the Sonics scurried to find a shot as the clock ran down, and Daniels beat the shot clock with a three from the right side, though he couldn't complete the four-point play after Bibby fouled him. Still, the Sonics led 95-88, capping off a 13-0 Seattle run. At 6:15, Collison was part of a double screen and rolled to the basket for a layup and was fouled, finishing off the three-point play; the Sonics led 98-90.
After James spun and hit a fallaway jumper (really) with 5:08 to go, the Kings scored the next four points (Cuttino Mobley midrange, Thomas second-chance layup) to get to within five at 100-95, though Collison drew yet another charge (Bibby) before the baskets. Coach McMillan called timeout. On the Kings' first possession after the timeout, they missed their first shot, and the ball found its way to the perimeter. Bibby apparently didn't know the shot had hit rim, so he launched a very deep three with 22 left on the shot clock, and it missed. Sacramento was called for a loose-ball foul on the rebound. Lewis was hacked on a layup attempt on the other end and hit his free throws (102-96). Miller was hacked on a putback attempt, but hit only one free throw, bringing the Kings within five at 102-97.
The Kings never got closer. Daniels hit a runner from the top of the key with 1:32 to go. Bibby hit only one free throw (his only point of the half) after a Daniels reach-in to make it 104-98. On the Sonics' next possession, Mobley tipped the ball (Lewis had it) out of bounds, and the Sonics were low on shot-clock time and had to inbound the ball. Enter Ray Allen, roving beyond the perimeter, from the left, then to the right, jumping a split-second before Brad Miller and nailing the Dagger three with 1:02 remaining, shocking the Arco Arena crowd and putting the Sonics up 107-98.
Sacramento was pretty much dead at this point, as Bibby drove to the basket and was fouled by James (58.8 seconds remaining), but missed both free throws. From there, it was a foulfest, enabling the Sonics to end the game on an 13-5 run. Count it as 13-3 if you don't want to count Mobley's meaningless jumper on the final King possession.
PEEK AT THE BOXSCORE
starters
Ray Allen 45 pts/4 reb/6 ast/4 stl/2 blk (17-28 FG, 6-14 3pt, 5-5 free throws, 45 min), Rashard Lewis 19 pts/8 reb/3 ast (4-12 FG, 0-4 3pt, 11-12 free throws, 43 min), Luke Ridnour 8 pts/4 ast (2-5 FG, 0-2 3pt, 4-4 free throws, 30 min), Reggie Evans 0 pts/4 reb (0-2 FG, 18 min)
bench
Vladimir Radmanovic 8 pts/4 reb (3-5 FG, 2-3 3pt, 21 min), Antonio Daniels 7 pts/6 ast (2-5 FG, 1-2 3pt, 2-3 free throws, 21 min), Danny Fortson 6 pts (2-2 FG, 2-2 free throws, 8 min), Nick Collison 5 pts/6 reb (2-3 FG, 20 min)
Jerome James Watch
17 pts/8 reb/2 ast/4 blk (7-11 FG, 3-3 free throws, 2 turnovers, 5 fouls, 34 min)
team
shot 39-for-73 (53.4%) from the field, shot 9-for-25 (36%) from downtown, shot 28-for-30 (93.3%) from the line, turned the ball over 16 times (18 Sacramento points), were outrebounded 39-37, bench outscored Kings' bench 26-16 (outrebounded them 12-6)
In related news, Ray Allen outscored Mike Bibby 26-1 in the second half. What a freakin' night from Ray Allen. Threes, layups, everything. Simply incredible.
Dare we say it was a consistent night from Jerome James? He didn't establish a career high in points for the fourth game in a row, but he was still great. There's nothing like Jerome James coming out to the arc for a screen to generate something on offense when the shot clock is running down and nobody's open for a pass.
How about those quality minutes from Nick Collison down the stretch? Three charges? I have no idea how this team is going to look next year, but we do know Luke Ridnour, Vladimir Radmanovic, Robert Swift (hey, he did break double figures in the final game of the season), and Nick Collison will be around, and I have a feeling we're really going to like Nick Collison for the next few years in Seattle. He brings a lot to the table, and he got some very valuable experience down the stretch in this game.
The Marquee Matchup for two games in a row on FSNNW was Rashard Lewis and Peja Stojakovic. Stojakovic finally hit some shots, going 10-for-18 and scoring 27 (6 in the second half). Lewis went only 4-for-12. He did manage to go 11-for-12 from the line, though, making him a factor on offense and signaling that he was aggressive attacking the basket.
Seriously, though. What a great win. They were down 19 in the first half and kept plugging away. The Sonics had the script of Game 3 in the first half, but rewrote it entirely in the second half. They allowed 68 points in the first half, but cranked up the defense and allowed only 34 points in the second half, the Kings' lowest-scoring second half of the year.
Well, we've seen what happened with a past incarnation of the Sonics against an 8th-seeded Denver team many moons ago, but one has to figure that the Sonics are in a good position here with a 3-1 series lead and Game 5 (and God forbid, if necessary, a Game 7) back in Seattle.
VICTORY FOR SONICS! O-KAY!
I asked Jinkies what kind of bag Sacramento fans should wear over their heads (with holes cut out for eyes and breathing, of course) after a loss like this -- paper or plastic? His response: "NO I did not steal and kill your parakeet. I think you accuse me just because I am now famous. How dare your face!"
The Heat wore their red jerseys, so I guess the Sonics figured they could go yellow. It worked, so I'm not complaining.
The game sure didn't come anywhere near as easily as the final score might indicate. You figured Ray Allen had to go off at least once in the playoffs, though, and he certainly lived up to that potential.
The first half was almost a carbon copy of the first half of Game 3. The Sonics would play okay, have a lapse or two, and then Sacramento would negate any run the Sonics might have made.
The one thing I noticed throughout the first quarter of play was that any tipped balls or tipped rebounds never ended up in Seattle hands. The teams traded baskets for the first portion of the first quarter until the Kings put together a 9-0 run, ending with Peja Stojakovic sticking a jumper off a screen with 1:23 to go. Though Stojakovic got rolling in the first half for the first time in the series, the run made it seem eerily like Game 3. Danny Fortson finished off a screen-and-roll to bring the Sonics within six (26-20) with 7.5 seconds remaining. Mike Bibby ran the ball the other way and pulled up to sink a long three with 1.3 seconds left. Worse yet, Vladimir Radmanovic fell asleep in backcourt on the inbound pass, and Stojakovic intercepted it and hit a midrange jumper to beat the buzzer. The Kings had scored five very quick points, and a six point lead seems a lot more surmountable than an 11-point lead. The Kings had ended the quarter on a 16-4 run. The Sonics once again weren't sealing off the paint too well, but they were leaving Brad Miller open on the perimeter too much, and he sank three jumpers. The Sonics shot 8-for-18 in the first quarter, but the Kings shot 13-for-26.
The Sonics would make a run in the second quarter, only to leave the quarter with a bigger deficit than they began with. Stojakovic blew all the way to the glass for a layup on the first possession of the quarter, setting the tone for the first part of the quarter. Antonio Daniels drove and kicked to Fortson for a layup on the other end, but the Kings would score the next eight points, capped off by Corliss (taunted in some circles as "Scoreless") Williamson dunking on a fast break and cleaning up a missed shot. The Kings were suddenly up by 19 (41-22) with 9:50 to play in the half, and they were leading 11-0 on second-chance points. The Sonics would eventually play faster, though smarter. Allen had a fingerroll layup and was fouled. He hit a three after Sacramento missed a shot on the other end. He cut to the basket for a layup after Jerome James had grabbed the offensive board. He threw an alley-oop pass to Radmanovic. He found James to finish off a fast break with a dunk and a three-point play. These plays and a few others got the Sonics to within four at 43-39 with 6:30 left in the half.
Seattle would get within three points three more times in the remainder of the half. Allen found James cutting to the basket again for another dunk (47-44, 4:51), Radmanovic found Allen under the basket for an easy layup (49-46, 4:23), and Allen hit another layup down low after flashing a spin move (51-48, 4:00). Then the Kings took a 12-4 run into the final minute of the half. Rashard Lewis made a sloppy crosscourt pass with 56 seconds remaining which was the Sonics' 11th turnover of the half. Ray Allen had 19 points at halftime.
Sacramento led 68-56 at halftime. The Kings had taken 52 shots, whereas the Sonics only got off 35. In a telling stat, the Kings were pounding the Sonics 10-3 on the offensive glass. Worse yet, the Sonics had scored 36 points in the second quarter. They allowed quarters of 31 and 37, however, and that indicates some porous defense.
The Sonics were able to chip away at the lead in the third quarter, and it helped that they scored the first six points of the half. James passed out of a double-team to Ridnour, whose midrange pop was the first basket of the half. Allen hit a midrange jumper off a James pick, and James was fouled down low and hit his free throws. Rashard Lewis had a baseline jam (highlight reel) with 6:41 left to bring the Sonics within five (73-68). Then came a weird turnover sequence, ending in Allen hitting a layup to bring the Sonics within five again (75-70, 5:45). Earlier in the quarter, the Allen/Bibby sequence happened where Allen turned the ball over and tapped it away from Bibby not long after (this got onto the highlight reels). Allen hit a three to beat the shot clock and got the Sonics to within TWO points at 75-73 with 3:11 to go. The Sonics were within ONE after Radmanovic hit a three on the right side with 2:10 to go, and the Kings' lead was only 77-76. The quarter ended with the Kings up 84-80. The Sonics came close, but never had the lead in the quarter. The nicest thing, though, was that they scored 28 points and held the Kings to just 12. Amazing.
Allen curled off a screen to hit a midrange shot, the first basket of the quarter, which got the Sonics within two at 84-82. James hit a jumphook in the key to get the Sonics within one at 88-87 with 10:06 remaining. Nick Collison drew a key charge on Miller, and Allen hit a three on the other end to get the Sonics their first lead since early in the first quarter, 90-88 with 9:19 to go. Kevin Calabro on the local broadcast exclaimed that Allen was "hearing signals from other planets!" Allen went to the glass for another layup at the 8:33 mark, then Collison drew yet another charge, this one on Williamson. On the other end, the Sonics scurried to find a shot as the clock ran down, and Daniels beat the shot clock with a three from the right side, though he couldn't complete the four-point play after Bibby fouled him. Still, the Sonics led 95-88, capping off a 13-0 Seattle run. At 6:15, Collison was part of a double screen and rolled to the basket for a layup and was fouled, finishing off the three-point play; the Sonics led 98-90.
After James spun and hit a fallaway jumper (really) with 5:08 to go, the Kings scored the next four points (Cuttino Mobley midrange, Thomas second-chance layup) to get to within five at 100-95, though Collison drew yet another charge (Bibby) before the baskets. Coach McMillan called timeout. On the Kings' first possession after the timeout, they missed their first shot, and the ball found its way to the perimeter. Bibby apparently didn't know the shot had hit rim, so he launched a very deep three with 22 left on the shot clock, and it missed. Sacramento was called for a loose-ball foul on the rebound. Lewis was hacked on a layup attempt on the other end and hit his free throws (102-96). Miller was hacked on a putback attempt, but hit only one free throw, bringing the Kings within five at 102-97.
The Kings never got closer. Daniels hit a runner from the top of the key with 1:32 to go. Bibby hit only one free throw (his only point of the half) after a Daniels reach-in to make it 104-98. On the Sonics' next possession, Mobley tipped the ball (Lewis had it) out of bounds, and the Sonics were low on shot-clock time and had to inbound the ball. Enter Ray Allen, roving beyond the perimeter, from the left, then to the right, jumping a split-second before Brad Miller and nailing the Dagger three with 1:02 remaining, shocking the Arco Arena crowd and putting the Sonics up 107-98.
Sacramento was pretty much dead at this point, as Bibby drove to the basket and was fouled by James (58.8 seconds remaining), but missed both free throws. From there, it was a foulfest, enabling the Sonics to end the game on an 13-5 run. Count it as 13-3 if you don't want to count Mobley's meaningless jumper on the final King possession.
PEEK AT THE BOXSCORE
starters
Ray Allen 45 pts/4 reb/6 ast/4 stl/2 blk (17-28 FG, 6-14 3pt, 5-5 free throws, 45 min), Rashard Lewis 19 pts/8 reb/3 ast (4-12 FG, 0-4 3pt, 11-12 free throws, 43 min), Luke Ridnour 8 pts/4 ast (2-5 FG, 0-2 3pt, 4-4 free throws, 30 min), Reggie Evans 0 pts/4 reb (0-2 FG, 18 min)
bench
Vladimir Radmanovic 8 pts/4 reb (3-5 FG, 2-3 3pt, 21 min), Antonio Daniels 7 pts/6 ast (2-5 FG, 1-2 3pt, 2-3 free throws, 21 min), Danny Fortson 6 pts (2-2 FG, 2-2 free throws, 8 min), Nick Collison 5 pts/6 reb (2-3 FG, 20 min)
Jerome James Watch
17 pts/8 reb/2 ast/4 blk (7-11 FG, 3-3 free throws, 2 turnovers, 5 fouls, 34 min)
team
shot 39-for-73 (53.4%) from the field, shot 9-for-25 (36%) from downtown, shot 28-for-30 (93.3%) from the line, turned the ball over 16 times (18 Sacramento points), were outrebounded 39-37, bench outscored Kings' bench 26-16 (outrebounded them 12-6)
In related news, Ray Allen outscored Mike Bibby 26-1 in the second half. What a freakin' night from Ray Allen. Threes, layups, everything. Simply incredible.
Dare we say it was a consistent night from Jerome James? He didn't establish a career high in points for the fourth game in a row, but he was still great. There's nothing like Jerome James coming out to the arc for a screen to generate something on offense when the shot clock is running down and nobody's open for a pass.
How about those quality minutes from Nick Collison down the stretch? Three charges? I have no idea how this team is going to look next year, but we do know Luke Ridnour, Vladimir Radmanovic, Robert Swift (hey, he did break double figures in the final game of the season), and Nick Collison will be around, and I have a feeling we're really going to like Nick Collison for the next few years in Seattle. He brings a lot to the table, and he got some very valuable experience down the stretch in this game.
The Marquee Matchup for two games in a row on FSNNW was Rashard Lewis and Peja Stojakovic. Stojakovic finally hit some shots, going 10-for-18 and scoring 27 (6 in the second half). Lewis went only 4-for-12. He did manage to go 11-for-12 from the line, though, making him a factor on offense and signaling that he was aggressive attacking the basket.
Seriously, though. What a great win. They were down 19 in the first half and kept plugging away. The Sonics had the script of Game 3 in the first half, but rewrote it entirely in the second half. They allowed 68 points in the first half, but cranked up the defense and allowed only 34 points in the second half, the Kings' lowest-scoring second half of the year.
Well, we've seen what happened with a past incarnation of the Sonics against an 8th-seeded Denver team many moons ago, but one has to figure that the Sonics are in a good position here with a 3-1 series lead and Game 5 (and God forbid, if necessary, a Game 7) back in Seattle.
VICTORY FOR SONICS! O-KAY!
I asked Jinkies what kind of bag Sacramento fans should wear over their heads (with holes cut out for eyes and breathing, of course) after a loss like this -- paper or plastic? His response: "NO I did not steal and kill your parakeet. I think you accuse me just because I am now famous. How dare your face!"
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