Sonics notebook: Spurs shut down Lewis
By Percy Allen
Seattle Times staff reporter
SAN ANTONIO — The burden of leadership has always been too heavy for Rashard Lewis to bear on his own. He has needed another All-Star on the court to alleviate the pressure when hit by defensive double-teams.
So when Ray Allen limped off the court last night with 5:29 left in the first half, the Sonics turned to Lewis.
Lewis, however, became the focal point of the Spurs' defense, and his 19 points weren't nearly enough to subdue San Antonio, which captured a 103-81 victory in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.
"The double-teams were coming from a different angle, and I tried to get my shot off before the double-teams could get there," Lewis said.
He managed just four points in the first half and failed to score in the second quarter, when the outcome was still in doubt. His 15 second-half points couldn't put a dent in a deficit that never got below 16 points after halftime.
"We can't play the way we played tonight," he said. "We totally looked like a college team. It looked like it was some men playing against little kids."
"What we learned tonight was it's real," Lewis said. "It's the playoffs. This is not the first round. ... We're playing against the second seed, and we're the third seed. They're a better team than we are. They've been here before. They've won a championship, and they know what it takes to get back there. So we've got to most definitely come ready and be ready to play for 48 minutes or we'll get swept."
James undone
For the first time in two weeks, the accolades stopped raining on center Jerome James. In the first-round series against Sacramento, he was the Sonics' savior.
Last night against San Antonio, he was simply the old James: nearly nonexistent.
Spurs forward Tim Duncan and center Nazr Mohammed reduced the 7-foot-1 defensive menace that tormented the Kings into a silent spectator. They held him to just four points on 2-for-8 shooting and just two rebounds in 19 minutes.
But if Vladimir Radmanovic (sprained right ankle) is unable to play tomorrow and Allen (sprained right ankle) is limited, James said he's willing to reprise his role.
"If it does come to that, then I'm willing and ready to step up to play the same type of ball that I played in the last series," said James, who entered the series averaging 17.2 points and 9.4 rebounds. "My role changes according to each situation. Tonight the situation called for me to go back to my old role of screening and getting guys open.
"If one of our offensive options goes down, then if that be the mindset of the coaching staff for me to take on that role, then I'm more than comfortable doing that."
McMillan second?
Sonics coach Nate McMillan will finish second behind Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni in the Coach of the Year balloting, according to a survey by the East Valley Tribune.
The Mesa, Ariz., newspaper conducted a survey of more than 80 percent of the voters who cast a ballot. D'Antoni led McMillan by just two first-place votes, 27-25, but had an overall points lead of 241-186.
D'Antoni was listed among the top three choices of 71 of the 94 voters surveyed, while McMillan was listed by 54 voters. Chicago's Scott Skiles (17), Indiana's Rick Carlisle (16), Denver's George Karl (8) and Miami's Stan Van Gundy (1) also received first-place votes.
The Tribune survey accurately predicted Steve Nash would win the MVP award last week.
The NBA will announce the official results tomorrow.
Allen lauds Nash
Phoenix point guard Steve Nash was named the league's MVP yesterday, and Seattle's Allen tied for ninth with Amare Stoudemire in the voting.
"We came into the league together, and I remember being in Phoenix that year and talking to him at half court and he told me, 'I think my name's Rook. I'm tired of everybody calling me rookie.' "
Nash's win was a victory for unselfishness. He finished the regular season averaging 15.5 points and 11.5 assists.
"There's no more deserving player in the league," Allen said. "Here's a guy who only averaged 15 points a game, but he was dropping 11 or 12 dimes [assists] every night.
"It should be a lesson to all the guards in the league that if you run your team and make good passes you can get the MVP."
Notes
• Reserve Danny Fortson committed four fouls and grabbed two rebounds in just three minutes.
• Former Sonics trainer Frank Furtado came out of retirement and rejoined the team because trainer Mike Shimensky is slowed by a hip injury that will require surgery after the season. Shimensky, who walks on crutches, remains in the locker room during the game and Furtado is on the sideline.
Steve Kelley contributed to this notebook.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...ninotes09.html
Hobbled and humbled: Allen, Radmanovic hurt in rout
By Percy Allen
Seattle Times staff reporter
SAN ANTONIO — Ray Allen walked gingerly in front of the Sonics' bench, testing his tender right ankle. He grimaced as he leaned on teammates for support and shifted his weight from side to side.
At about the same time, attendants pushed Vladimir Radmanovic's wheelchair through the corridors of the SBC Center. He received treatment for a severely sprained right ankle in the locker room.
Hobbled and humbled early in their Western Conference semifinal opener, the Sonics were embarrassingly exposed as the San Antonio Spurs claimed a 103-81 win last night. It was the team's worst playoff defeat since a 23-point loss to San Antonio in 2002.
The lopsided defeat, which gave San Antonio a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, the Sonics can handle. Losing Allen and Radmanovic for a long stretch, however, would likely mean an early end to the series.
When asked afterward what the Sonics are like without Allen, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich smiled as he stretched his arms wide.
"Maybe from one end of the spectrum to the other," he said. "He means to them what Tim [Duncan] means to us or Steve Nash means to Phoenix or Kevin Garnett means to Minnesota. He's huge. He makes your whole team more confident."
Without two of their top three scorers from the regular season, the Sonics were overwhelmed and undermanned against a debilitating Spurs defense that handcuffed Luke Ridnour and frustrated Rashard Lewis to the point where all he could do was bicker with officials and plead for fouls that were never called.
Missing Allen, who left the game with 7:59 remaining in the second quarter and never returned, meant losing not only their leading scorer, but the one player who gave the Sonics hope against the playoff-tested Spurs.
"They don't need me to win, we can still beat this team, but I know that I've got to come back as soon as I can," Allen said last night while walking slowly to the team bus. "It's stiff right now. [Today] I've got to just stay off of it and see what that does."
Allen took control offensively early and scored eight of Seattle's first 14 points, while eluding his nemesis, San Antonio forward Bruce Bowen. Bowen's sticky defense helped create a collision beneath the basket that left Allen hobbling.
Several minutes after the game, the Sonics guard was still seething about the events that led to his injury.
"Same old Bruce," Allen said. "I got caught on his foot and it just turned. He's good for that. He's done that before."
Bowen's take on the pivotal play: "I knew he was coming down full speed. He tried to draw the foul. I was trying to get out of the way. ... I'm not disappointed when somebody goes out. The game doesn't stop. You still have to play."
Allen, who finished with eight points on 4-for-7 shooting, received X-rays, which didn't reveal any serious damage. He jogged outside the locker room at halftime, but trainers advised him not to return.
His status for Game 2 tomorrow is questionable.
Radmanovic, however, isn't likely to play tomorrow and may not play again, depending on how long the series lasts. He left the locker room on crutches and didn't speak to reporters.
"Vlade's injury is very serious," Allen said. "I think he might be out the next game. I don't know what my status is, but a day will do me good. I've always snapped back pretty quick. It's the playoffs, so I'm not looking to sit out unless I absolutely have to."
The injury occurred near the three-point line at the Spurs' end of the floor as he defended Brent Barry. The Spurs guard shifted quickly to his left, and as Radmanovic ran and tried to stop in position, his ankle buckled 8:26 before halftime.
He writhed on the court for several seconds, clutching his ankle, before Jerome James and Danny Fortson carried him to the locker room.
Twenty-seven seconds later, the Sonics lost Allen. A few minutes after that, they lost their composure, as McMillan was accessed a technical with 3:05 left in the quarter. Then they lost their hope, as they fell behind 58-28 just before halftime.
"Seeing them go out like that messed up the mental flow for us," Fortson said. "Those guys are very important, especially Ray. And not to have him out there was pretty tough for us to recover from."
The flurry of misfortune buried the Sonics, who finished the game with several deep reserves making their 2005 playoff debuts. The unorthodox lineup, led by Lewis' 19 points and Antonio Daniels' 15, was unable to stop San Antonio's Tony Parker and Duncan, who combined for almost half of the Spurs' points.
Parker blew past Ridnour whenever he wanted, and Daniels also failed to slow the Spurs guard, who finished with 29 points on 11-for-18 shooting.
Spurs reserve Glenn Robinson added 16 points, Barry had 11 and Manu Ginobili 10.
Duncan wasn't as dominant as in years past while recovering from a late-season ankle injury, but he finished with 22 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
The second half was a blur of fast-break dunks for the Spurs, who shot 50.7 percent from the field and dominated the boards 46-31. Chants of "overrated" and "sweep" echoed through the building.
"It's a seven-game series," Daniels said. "A series is never won after one game, regardless of how bad you played or how well they played. We still have to come back here [tomorrow] and play. And they still have to come to Seattle and play."
Percy Allen: 206-464-2278 or [email protected]
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...05_soni09.html
Parker zigs, zags past Sonics
By Greg Bishop
Seattle Times staff reporter
SAN ANTONIO — The Spurs are always prodding the aggression out of Tony Parker, their fast but hardly furious French point guard.
Since San Antonio selected Parker in the first round of the 2001 draft, the Spurs have worked that angle, pleading with Parker to take control of games and involve himself earlier than he generally felt comfortable. And still, even as recently as Game 1 of San Antonio's first-round series against the Denver Nuggets, Parker continued to be complacent early.
The result, Parker admitted this week, was embarrassing. Nuggets point guard Andre Miller drove this way and dashed that way, scoring 31 points to go with five assists in Denver's lopsided — and only — victory in the series.
So Parker promised Saturday that he would be aggressive against Sonics point guard Luke Ridnour, that he would "go right at him."
"I just wanted to make sure we didn't make the same mistake as against Denver," Parker said after the Spurs beat the Sonics 103-81 last night. "I wanted to make sure we didn't come out flat. The first game against Denver was a great wake-up call for us."
Talk met walk as Parker kicked off this best-of-seven series with aggression more commonly reserved for steroid users and folks in need of anger management. He even reversed his earlier Game 1 role, playing more like Miller while showing Ridnour what he felt like against Denver.
There went Parker, a blur up the left side of the lane, drawing a foul from Ridnour and converting the three-point play. The play gave the Spurs a lead they would never relinquish.
There went Parker, slicing through the Sonics' defense, moving from right to left, scooping in another lay-in for a 5-2 lead.
And there went Parker, streaking up the middle untouched, scoring yet again for a 7-2 lead. As in, Tony Parker 7, Sonics 2.
Three possessions. Three lay-ins. Three different drives. Game over.
"We were a little surprised at the speed of Tony Parker," Sonics coach Nate McMillan said. "His play and his aggression are different from the regular season. That's why they controlled this game from the start."
Parker finished with 29 points on 11-of-18 shooting, along with three assists, one steal and one rebound. He scored in every way imaginable — floaters in the lane, feathery jumpers from the wing, even a baby hook.
Mostly, Parker scored by driving — so much so that it appeared he was doing laps through a McDonald's drive-through window. Parker didn't attempt a shot outside of 4 feet until near the end of the first quarter.
"I felt in the first half I didn't need to," he said. "It was wide open."
Added Spurs coach Gregg Popovich: "Tony was very aggressive, very focused to start the game. He really tried to make things happen. When he does that, we're a much better scoring team."
If Parker continues this play, the Spurs will be even more dangerous than first thought. Tim Duncan said it looked like the Sonics were hesitant to leave their defensive assignments when Parker drove the lane. It was as if the Sonics wanted Parker to beat them.
And he did it quickly. Then he let Duncan (22 points), Glenn Robinson (16), Brent Barry (11) and Manu Ginobili (10) fill in the rest.
After the game, Parker said he expects the Sonics to pay more attention to him in Game 2 tomorrow, to close some of those wide-open spaces, which leaves the Sonics in as big a conundrum as they faced trying to guard Parker last night. Because paying more attention to Parker means paying less attention to Duncan and Ginobili.
Should Parker retain his aggression, his success against the Sonics should continue, said Spurs forward Bruce Bowen.
"He always has a great game against Seattle, so he was nothing but confident coming into this one," Bowen said.
The Spurs are just hoping Parker stays that way.
Greg Bishop: 206-464-3191 or [email protected]
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...oniside09.html
Dude, WTF is up with Ray Allen? Still in about Bruce and blaming his injury on him? Im sorry but that's a punk ass whiny move on his part. suck it up and be a man. I use to have respect for Allen. WTF was I thinking. You never cry as much as he has when it comes to your game. I know he's a threat, but I want this ass to play next game. I want him to be on the court while we win....
Somebody call the whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaambulance!!!!"Same old Bruce," Allen said. "I got caught on his foot and it just turned. He's good for that. He's done that before."
Same old soft ray allen.
"Same old Bruce," Allen said. "I got caught on his foot and it just turned. He's good for that. He's done that before."
well, we all know that bowen's good at that.. he should have been prepared... a lose is a lose.. no excuse!!!!
Allen is fvcking pvssy!
Absolutely amazing and disgusting.
Explicitly, directly, unequivocally blaming Bruce's defense for his ankle, as if Bruce did something illegal, dirty, to cause intentional harm.
Now the jerkoffs in the press will run with it.
Ray's a superb basketball player, but like so many others of his ilk, he's a whiny punk.
Same old Ray...
After watching the replays of that incident, I kept saying to my husband, "There is going to be no way Ray Allen will be able to say that Bowen caused that."
I should have known.
Bruce Bowen could have been in miles from the SBC Center last night and Ray Allen still would have put the blame for his misfortunes on Bruce Bowen.
Methinks Bruce may be in Ray's head a bit.
didn't you guys see the replay? Allen's foot didn't get caught on anything of Bowen's. Bowen was moving backward and Allen was trying to do a layup when his toe got caught on the floor and twisted. now he tries to blame bowen? what a loser. cant wait till we sweep them and this series is over
Bruce is not in just rays head, he has a vacation home, with a boat and a house that he spends his summers at in rays head. I guess Ray does not realize how pathetic he sounds. He sounds like the guy that tells all his friends, " I am over that chick, I am done with her." and then just keeps talking about her non-stop.
seriously. watching the game you caould see by ray allen's body language he was annoyed. it was too funny. lol. bruce owns
That's right people " They still call him Bruce" On Allen like white on rice. Bowen played him perfect, but what I saw and hopefully Pop will see to is we need a big guy down at the paint to meet Allen to block or throw off his drive to the basket. Oh, Bowen was not even close to him when he tripped on his own ankle. I am going to make a list of the cry babies so far this series starting off with George "Gerber Baby" Karl, K-Mart,"No blue light specials" Martin, I am going to add Alien to the list If he does not stop crying.
Thanks for the articles Z, I always enjoy reading the oppsoing teams media veiws.
What a ing punk ass ass pussy."Same old Bruce," Allen said. "I got caught on his foot and it just turned. He's good for that. He's done that before."
This is hilarious though, Bowen could be in Antarctica hanging out with the polar bears, and all he'd have to do is call Ray the day of the game and say "what's up?" and Ray would go find a corner to cower in.
Dude, is the NBA full of so many crybabies now? I long for the days of meeting the Lakers in the playoffs. They at least took it and dished it out like men.
True of the Lakers players -- Phil's "that's ridiculous" quote after Game 1 of the 2003 WCSF tends to cut against you here, but for the most part, Spurs/Lakers wasn't a fest among the principals.
Of course, jackasses like our old buddy LakerLanny weren't principals . . . .
With all of the crying about officiating that RayRay has done lately, I'm beginning to wonder if he hasn't taken to posting on webforums under the screen name "LakerLanny." This all sounds way too familiar.
ROFL
"What we learned tonight was it's real," Lewis said. "It's the playoffs.
James said he's willing to reprise his role.
"If it does come to that, then I'm willing and ready to step up to play the same type of ball that I played in the last series," said James, who entered the series averaging 17.2 points and 9.4 rebounds. "My role changes according to each situation. Tonight the situation called for me to go back to my old role of screening and getting guys open.
these guys make kenyon martin look like the Admiral
"If it does come to that, then I'm willing and ready to step up to play the same type of ball that I played in the last series," said James, who entered the series averaging 17.2 points and 9.4 rebounds. "My role changes according to each situation. Tonight the situation called for me to go back to my old role of screening and getting guys open.
I think I actually like this guy now. Never met a quote he didn't like.
STFU Allen.. he came on tv and said he was gonna "attack" well WTF you come to the Alamo City wanting to attack you better F***ing expect to get attacked back punk. hahaha.
My exact thoughts. I ran that play back on my DVR many times just to make sure Ray had nothing to whine about. What was I thinkin'?
"If Ray is going to be a pussy, then I'll be the lube" - James
I can't believe how defeated these guys sound. I never say this, but I'd be absolutely shocked to see Seattle take a single game in this series. I just don't see how they're going to do it. I had the feeling they were screwed when Allen and James were talking their overconfident we-think-we're-the-2000-Lakers y , but now Lewis is talking about being swept and little Ray-Ray is crying in the corner? Seattle's going to lose tomorrow by 20+ again.
Yes, make Big Snacks the focal point of your offense, Nate!
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