SIMULBLOG FOR SONICS V. HORNETS

FINAL SCORE HORNETS 105 SONICS 99

Hornets 91 Sonics 82 with 4:29 left in the 4th Quarter
Ray Allen has fouled out.
Even when Seattle is playing good defensive possessions they aren’t getting the rebounds. That was the difference in the third quarter. The Sonics rebounded.


Hornets 89 Sonics 80 with 5:43 left in the 4th Quarter
Allen gets his 5th foul with 8:25 left in the 4th Quarter. Score 83-77 Hornets.
Speedy Claxton has 5 fouls with 7:35 left.
Flip just allowed a wide open shot off a pick when he made no effort to defend
Flip has one F******* job and that is too guard Smith and while his 4 teammates were busting theit A** he left him open with 3 on the shot clock for a dagger 3 ************
Profanity is a blog first if that gives any idea how this is going.

Hornets 82 Seattle 77 with 8:29 left in the 4th Quarter
Seattle played a good defensive quarter in the 3rd holding the Hornets efficiency down to 92. They did most of that on the defensive glass where they had allowed the Hornets to get 43% of their offensive rebounds in the first half and just 22% in the third quarter.


Hornets 77 Sonics 70 at the end of 3 quarters.
Defensive breakdowns again and again.
Flip Murray came in when the Sonics were down 2, he was -5 for this stint.
Flip is -10 on the day.
Flip is -87 for the season.

Hornets 69 Sonics 67 with 2:22 left in the 3rd Quarter
For all of you who are Reggie Evans fans you could take the last 3 minutes of video and plead your case against my video from earlier in the game. That is the essence of Reggie.
I have added a new defensive evaluation (XX) it is for excellent. It is when Lewis steps in front of a pass and takes it the other way for a dunk or Reggie gets a charge.
So far this half – XX=2 G=5 OK=2 B=7


Hornets 62 Sonics 57 with 5:51 left in the 3rd Quarter
Lewis should be able to destroy Nachbar.
Ray Allen just got his 4th foul with 6:57 left in the Quarter
Allen talked Weiss into leaving him in the game or Weiss was going to do it any way.
I am charting Good (G) Ok (OK) and Bad (B) defensive possessions. This is subjective but it is the best I can do.
So far this half – G=4 OK=2 B=4
The bads have been penetration and poor rotations.


Hornets 55 Sonics 47 at Half Time.
I mentioned earlier that Paul + Claxton are a tough match-up because the Sonics don’t have guards that can post up. With Allen out with 3 fouls the Sonics have turned to Flip Murray.
Flip has had a terrible +/- this season. Today he is a – 5. Despite scoring 9 points.
The Sonics defensive schemes seemed confused.

Hornets 52 Sonics 43 with 2:26 left in the 2nd Quarter
Points in the paint is 22-10
I have never been a Reggie Evans fan if I needed a video to prove my point I would run the last 4 minutes of basketball.
This is very disturbing.

Hornets 44 Sonics 40 with 5:19 left in the 2nd Quarter
The Sonics took their first free throws of the game at the 7:39 mark of the 2nd Quarter.
Both teams are now in the bonus. See you in an hour when it is finally halftime.
Seattle has gone zone
Reggie Evans has clogged the last two offensive possessions. I wonder if he has an understanding of how he clogs things.
Flip Murray has gone 1 on 1 for two baskets.


This is my image for the day to describe the action. With the Sonics in the bonus at the 10:05 market of the quarter the Hornets are going to the line trip after trip and it is like watching grass grow

Hornets 36 Sonics 32 with 9:37 left in the 2nd Quarter
The Hornets are in the bonus with 10:20 left in the quarter.
I think a great deal of the Sonics defensive problem is that team come in thinking the Sonics can’t defend so then they come in and are super aggressive going to the basket
Flip sighting he is in the game. The Score was 35-32 Hornets when he entered.
Mateen Cleaves has done a nice job containing the ball.

Sonics 29 Hornets 29 at end of the 1st Quarter
Sonics just ran a play where they made one pass to Wilkins. He held the ball for a moment or two and then jacked a 17 footer. I just can’t imagine that anyone thought that was what the play should have been.
Chris Paul is very nifty. He can get wherever he wants to on the floor.
The Hornets are getting to the basket every time they want to. What is disturbing is that it isn’t as though the Sonics aren’t trying.
The Sonics are on the verge of allowing another 60 point half if they don’t buckle down.

Sonics 20 Hornets 19 with 2:55 left in the 1st Quarter
Hornets have Claxton and Paul together this has to be the smallest combo in the league.
This is a tough combo for the Sonics. Allen and Ridnour are poor one on one defenders and neither have a post-game to take advantage of their lack of size.
The Sonics simply don’t protect their basket. The Hornets are getting inside without problem.
The Sonics offense is playing very well. They have Ridnour, Allen, Lewis, Vlady and Nick on the floor


Hornets 13 Sonics 10 with 5:46 left in the 1st Quarter
David West meet Reggie Evans. I am not sure what happened but David West just left the game after getting hit in the mouth/face/nose and I can only assume that Reggie was a part of it.
Valdy is trying but his decision making when he puts it on the floor needs to be improved greatly.
Early signs are that Chris Paul is pretty terrific.
I am putting a really close eye on our defense to see what is wrong. The early thoughts are that the Sonics just show very little resistance to anything the other team is doing.
In addition, the path to the basket is wide open.

Storylines
1) Sonics defense against a poor offensive team
2) Reggie Evans in the starting line-up
3) Luke Ridnour needs to step up on Chris Paul
4) #2 offensive rebounding team (Hornets) v. #30 defensive rebounding team

Sonics will change the starting line-up with Reggie Evans starting in place of Johan Petro and moving Collison to the center position.

Sonics Inactives: Rick Brunson, Danny Fortson and Vitaly Potapenko