NETS 109 SONICS 99 FINAL SCORE
At 103-97 Jefferson just made a great shot. That is the tough thing about playing from behind. Great players made great plays.
Great play out of the timeout by Weiss for a Vlady 3
Another bad possession on an airball three by Allen. Luke blew it up after a dribble off his foot.
Vlady committed a poor foul giving Kidd two free throws.
Nets 99 Sonics 90 with 2:55 left in the 4th Quarter
Offensively Seattle just doesn’t have the late game flow they need.
They have converted on just 2 of the last 9 possessions.
They were: Cleaves missed layup, Allen no quick 3, Kidd steal, Lewis bucket, Lewis no 3, Ridnour missed drive, Vlady no on a covered 3, Petro follow for 2, Ridnour no on open 3. They are missing some shots they need to make and one or two poor possessions really cost you at this point in the game.
New Jersey 87 Sonics 84 with 8:42 left in the 4th Quarter
Ray Allen got his first field goal on the first play of the 4th Quarter
I can begin to understand why the coaches struggle with Vlady. He went soft to a loss ball with the score 83-78. It would have been a huge turnover. Instead NJ converted.
But his ability to stretch the floor and hit the 3 is s dynamic. That is the Vlady dilemma
Nets 79 Sonics 70 end of 3rd Quarter
The Sonics defensive plan is working and they are still down
Kidd is 2 of 10; Carter is 3 of 8; Jefferson is 4 of 9.
You would take that every night. However, Krstic is killing them.
That is because they have not had good enough spaced help defense.
This one is getting away. The offensive flow has disappeared.
Mikki Moore has been a disaster. He has two turnovers and is getting beat down low.
All off season we thought Damien Wilkins was a good defensive player and I have not seen it yet this season.
I know Vlady has been poor but down 11 points I would think that he is a better choice then Moore.
Nets 67 Sonics 61 with 5:00 left in the 3rd Quarter
Sonics on a 7-0 run
The Sonics got their first stop of the quarter at 5:30 on the Nets 10th possession of the 3rd Quarter.
The Nets are putting Carter on Ridnour so that he can become a freelancer doubling team and raising havoc.
Danny Fortson is out for the rest of the game.
Ray Allen still doesn’t have a field goal.
Nets 63 Sonics 52 with 7:37 left in the 3rd Quarter
Nets come out of the half and score on 7 straight possessions
The Sonics defensive rebounding has been poor this year and it is bad to start the quarter. Three of the Nets scores are off offensive rebounds.
Carter has been matching up on Ridnour.
Lewis keeps giving Jefferson one step too many on the three. You have to respect his drive but Lewis is long enough that he should be able to close tighter.
The Nets have made some nice adjustments off the Sonics double teams.
Sonics 48 Nets 48 at the Half
Reggie Evans clogs the floor terribly. Plus, his incompetence at the line is death.
The halfcourt execution has been very good at times.
The thing that jumps out to me is when this team shots early in a possession or in transition the shots are not falling. This means transition for the other side.
I like that Ridnour is showing a willingness to shot even though he has been struggling. They are not forced shots and if teams are going to leave him he has to make the shot or this team will never win.
Sonics 41 Nets 41 with 2:08 in the 2nd Quarter
The offensive drought hit again midway through the 2nd quarter.
Ray Allen is not on his game tonight
Sonics 27 Nets 19 end of 1st Quarter
Everyone I talk to about the Nets talk about Kristic as a future start
Cliff Robinson playing instead of a Jason Collins is a big deal. Collins is one of the ebst defensive players in the NBA and Robinson is very poor.
Without question the Sonics best defensive quarter.
Nick Collison has been amazing. Two put backs and two 18 foot jumpers.
If Collison hits the 18 footer this team gets tough and he becomes a huge asset.
Collison has 8 points and 4 rebounds in the first quarter
The Nets were 8 for 21 from the field.
Sonics 11 Nets 2 with 7:38 left in the 1st Quarter
Petro throws a very good outlet pass and that might get the Sonics running.
On a few fast breaks early the Sonics have done a better job spacing the floor and this has opened up driving lanes.
Flip Murray is out with back spasms for at least the first half. Sonics made a nice move having Cleaves active.
The Sonics defense is holding the Nets to outside 18 footers and that is not a strength of Carter and Jefferson.
Sonics inactives: Brunson, Potapenko and Swift
Storylines
1) Can the Sups guard Carter and Jefferson
2) Was Collison's 20-10 night a fluje or is he a legit starter?
3) Ridnour against Kidd without AD to help him out.
4) Sonics defensive rebounding (#30 in the NBA) against the Nets offensive rebounding (#3 in the NBA)
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14 comments:
Carter can never stay healthy....and with Petro on the floor they are a better team
NBDL starts Friday. Scales and Felix have not signed yet and I'd guess will go overseas for more money.
Swift might get one more look in the bigs before they decide whether to send him down. Seems like it would be fair and help keep him from getting crushed by it.
Besides Allen, the biggest offseason priority for the Sonics should have been Antonio Daniels. You can't let that type of player go and expect his role to be filled in by non-leaders and selfish players. Last season was an abberation, everything fell into place and was backed by one of the greatest culmination of coaches on one bench. Now all of the key pieces are gone, and once again Walker and Sund are exposed for the frauds they truly are. It's time for Mr. Starbucks to break that pathetic lease with the city of Seattle and start building a new state-of-the-art home across the water in Bellevue. Take a page out of Detroits book and go where the money is. Seattle as a city does not support this franchise and it is killing their ability to produce a competitive team on the court. This franchise can't afford five more years of guarenteed losses. By then they will have turned into the Warriors. And having lived a few years in the Bay Area, there is nothing sadder than never having an opportunity to be excited about your basketball team.
It's too bad the Huskies don't play 82 games. They are a constant reminder of what the right people at the top who bring the right philosiphy can do with a little talent. The Sonics this offseason did the exact opposite of what the Seahawks did. They brought back low-character, selfish players like Vlady and Flip, and let Allen's right-hand man walk. Of course Walker and Sund then bring in Clipper rejects and assume that two all-stars can get the job done on their own. I've said it since Whitsitt left, with Walker making decisions, this team will start on a steady decline. He hasn't dissapointed. Blow it up. Blow it all up from the President on down, and get the heck out of that lease.
The worst thing that could happen for this team is start winning and finish 9th or 10th in the West. They need to get a top 3 pick. Vlady is gone, thank god, next year. Evans and Flip will walk as well. This team needs to add a big-time player with a big-time presence. Rashard will always be a nice player, but he is not a big-time presence. And as much as Allen can fill up the cup, there are ways to blanket shooters, and render them inneffective in terms of their team's success, case in point - Kobe in LA. This team has got to find a Duncan-esque presence down low.
You have no conception of what a player like Daniels brings to a basketball team. You already have scorers on the court, Daniels production can be found in other areas. Such as assist to turnover ratio, such as vocal leadership in the local room, such as unselfish play on the court. I suppose you think that 20 dribbles and a rushed shot is effective basketball. Antonio Daniels is the epitome of an effective role player in this league and you need not look any further than the Wizards this season to see his positive effect on the court. The Sonics offered 23 million, the Wizards topped that by seven million. Considering the Sonics offered Vlady forty million for a guy that can't even find his way of Weiss' bench, perhaps some thought should have been given to keeping the emotional leader on the team. The Sonics have lacked a legitimate big man for decades now, their fulility there is obvious. Finding a Duncan-esque athlete does not mean Duncan himself. The problem with the Sonics is that when they miss the playoffs they hover around .500, rather than performing at a level that would afford them the type of dividend-producing draft choice they covet. A Chris Bosh type player, found in the early stages of a draft is something that would benefit the club immensely.
"I suppose you think that 20 dribbles and a rushed shot is effective basketball."
Hey, that's basically AD's game!
And you think the Sonics would sell more tickets in Bellevue than Seattle ... LOL thanks for the entertaining rants.
As someone mentioned on a previous post, the Sonics management is very poor and were clearly lucky last year. This season is showing how effective Nate was as a coach. Losing AD was big, but clearly not the reason the team has dramatically declined. They still have their core players. As I see it there are 2 glowing problems.
A. These players don't respect Weiss. They might not have liked Nate's hard attitude, but they clearly respected him. They are jacking up 3's without playing with that fire or intensity on the defensive end.
B. Management - they didn't sign a veteran back up point guard. First, Luke has been awful this year on the defensive end of the floor. He's clearly getting getting beat off the drible which forces the bigs to help out on the penetration, which leads to lay up. 2nd, I find it extremly hard to believe the Vlade goes from 6th man a year candidate to only playing 20 minutes a night. I have a feeling Sund is behind this whole thing. Remember, Nate used to get frustrated with Sund because he kept telling him how to play his guys.
I don't understand how you can support bring back Ray Ray for 5 years and crazy bank, and then say that you can't bring back AD for a lot less and the same years. Granted Ray is a superstar, but he won't be in the last 3 years of his contract.
Locke has so many knobs to polish dude, he's really busy comin up with new "revolutionary" absolutly irrelevant stat breakdowns. and keepin Wally Walkers crack spit shined, the best line in the movie Snatch is one Locke should heed, it is when bricktop tells that dude "pull your tounge out of my arshole"
Wow, that line-up gives me a chubby. LOL!!!!
there is a bar in Magnolia called McGraws, it's a coug bar. Are husky fans out there gonna let that stand? The Space Needle is being painted crimson as I write this. I'm callin out you Husy fans, are you going to let this kind of stuff ride?
Two questions that will determine the Sonics' fate in the woeful (and winable)NBA Northwest:
Will Luke Ridnour ever play with any urgency on defense?
Will Vlade Radmanovic get enough change in his 10 cent head to match his million dollar body?
The Sonics' big guys need the guards and wings to put pressure on the ball. It is WAY too easy for opposing guards to make entry passes on the wings or into the post and lane or to penetrate or warp the defense on pick and rolls. Ridnour looks like a deer caught in headlights. He does not have the look of a starting NBA point guard. Vlade is just a bust. The Sonics should have bid him good bye in the off season and let him go frustrate another team. He'd better figure out that he has to be aggressive from the second he steps on the court--every time--or his big pay day will be for some team in Europe.
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