X-factor keeps the Sonics going

[Jimcs50]

Thursday, May 19, 2005 - Page updated at 12:27 a.m.



Sonics

X-factor keeps the Sonics going

By Greg Bishop


They are role players, substitutes and starters shrouded in anonymity for weeks at a time, then pushed to the forefront when the moment calls for it.

They are the reason the Sonics' season is still breathing, the reason the Sonics still believe they have a chance. They are guys named Luke Ridnour and Jerome James and Nick Collison and Antonio Daniels, guys who played beyond their means at different points this postseason and pushed the Sonics back into contention when most believed their series with the Spurs ended after a blowout loss in Game 1.

Without this collective group of rotating X-factors, this season would already be finished. With them, the Sonics overcame injuries to two of their top three scorers and won six games in a postseason they weren't even supposed to enter.

To hear the Sonics tell it, so many players shine on so many different nights that they're passing the X-factor tag like kids would a hot potato. And now that this series enters its sixth game, at 7:30 p.m. at KeyArena, one question remains.

Who will it be tonight?

"It could be anybody," Daniels said. "That's the danger in all the teams that are still playing now. Somebody needs to. We have to take care of business or our season's over. Plain and simple."

So we polled the Sonics available for interviews after practice yesterday, and these are the divergent possibilities:

• X-factor candidate No. 1: Luke Ridnour.

The Sonics point guard struggled early in the series in San Antonio, then returned to Seattle and posted 29 points and 11 assists in the Sonics' two wins. When he has dished at least five assists, the Sonics are 2-0. When his assist number is four or under, the Sonics are 0-3.

"If he continues to do what he's been able to do, he's definitely an X-factor," forward Danny Fortson said. "If he continues to penetrate and push the ball and go back at [Spurs guard] Tony Parker, it definitely can go our way, our favor, fast."




• X-factor candidate No. 2: Nick Collison.

The power forward played one of his most productive games in the Sonics' loss to the Spurs on Tuesday night, scoring 14 points. If the Sonics are to win and send this series back to San Antonio, Collison and the rest of the Sonics' bruise crew — Reggie Evans, James, Fortson and sometimes Vitaly Potapenko — need to at least limit the Spurs inside.

"Everyone gets a turn," Fortson said. "With our injuries, we don't have a choice."

• X-factor candidate No. 3: Antonio Daniels

Daniels, who scored 17 points Tuesday night, confounded the Spurs as the third guard in Seattle's three-guard lineup in Game 4 and has scored at least 15 points against his former team in every game this series. You could argue he has been the series' most consistently solid player.
"We don't need to get down on each other," Daniels said. "We don't need to point the finger at each other. We just need to move forward and think about Game 6."

• X-factor candidate No. 4: Jerome James.

Guess who nominated James, this postseason's surprise celebrity? James. :lol

"I'll have more of an impact in Game 6," said James, the Sonics' X-factor in their first-round win over Sacramento.

James has had his share of colorful comments during this postseason. He also said the Sonics need to be as physical with the Spurs as they were in Games 3 and 4, even if that means creating a little animosity.

"Each series, you end up not liking the other team," James said. "You start the series thinking they're an OK bunch of guys. And by the end of the series, you hate them. For example, I was once loved in Sacramento. Now, my house is on the market. And it's not even selling."

• X-factor candidate No. 5: home-court advantage.

OK, so it's not a player, but in this series home-court advantage has played a crucial role. The Sonics haven't lost at KeyArena this postseason. The Spurs have four losses — including one to the Sonics — at home all season.

James said that playing on the road "clouds your thinking," and it certainly appeared that way for the Spurs in two games here. But Sonics guard Ray Allen cautions against leaning too heavily on home-court advantage — "I don't want to use that as a kickstand," he said. "For us to move on we don't have that luxury" — because if the Sonics win, this series moves back to San Antonio for Game 7.

"That's our fault for losing six games in a row at the end of the season," Fortson said. "That's what we have to deal with now. And yeah, it does suck flying four hours down to San Antonio. I can't stand it. It's getting old. I'm tired of that damned Riverwalk. I'm getting tired of everything about San Antonio." :makemyday

He is tired of San Antonio. But eager to go back.

"We don't accept it [that the season could end tonight]," Fortson said. "We just know that somehow we're going to make it to Sunday. At least I do, anyway."

Greg Bishop: 206-464-3191 or [email protected]

[Jimcs50]

McMillan challenges Sonics to embrace Game 6 as 'special'

By DANNY O'NEIL
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

"Destination Finals" reads the logo on the gray T-shirt. The Sonics' emblem is in one corner and an image of the league-championship trophy sits in the other.

Each player had one of those shirts placed in his locker during the playoffs, passed out by the team's equipment manager.

"We just went in one day, and it was on our locker," guard Antonio Daniels said.

The possibility of reaching that destination is in danger of vanishing as suddenly as the shirts appeared.

The Sonics trail the San Antonio Spurs 3-2 in the best-of-seven series, standing one game away from elimination in the Western Conference semifinals. Win or go home is no longer a marketing motto for TNT's playoff coverage. It's the Sonics' reality for Game 6 tonight at KeyArena.

Coach Nate McMillan called it a special moment. It's also a matter of survival.

"You get to the next game, and anything can happen," McMillan said. "You get to the next round, and anything can happen."

When a best-of-seven series is tied 2-2, the team that wins Game 5 goes on to win the series more than 80 percent of the time. The Sonics' chances are further hamstrung by Rashard Lewis' health. He remains a game-time decision because of a sprained left toe, which was examined yesterday.

Then again, the odds have never added up for the Sonics during this improbable season. General manager Rick Sund said before the playoffs began that this had been a Cinderella season, and he just wanted to hold off midnight as long as possible. The hour hand has neared the 12, as the Sonics need two wins in two games to advance.



It's an intimidating prospect. It's also an opportunity, McMillan told his players after practice yesterday. He talked about special moments.

"You may not ever see this again," McMillan said afterward, summarizing his message to reporters. "You may not ever get to this point again. This is a special time. You're a special group of guys. You have to really think about what you've got here."

And they have to know they may never be back together since nine of the 14 players on the roster unsigned beyond this season. The coaching staff and general manager are also on contracts that expire on June 30. The reality is that the team, the whole franchise, could look very different just a few months from now.

"That's the truth," McMillan said. "Everybody knows that."

It's amazing the Sonics have gotten this far, and no, this isn't another recitation about how "The Little Team That Could" won 52 games after being picked to finish last in the Northwest Division before the season.

The Spurs have won two of the past six NBA titles, yet the Sonics have managed to stay competitive in this series despite suffering injuries to each of the team's top three regular-season scorers. Vladimir Radmanovic suffered a series-ending ankle injury 15 minutes into Game 1, and Ray Allen went down one possession later. He missed the second half of the series-opening loss. Lewis, who has missed the past two games with a severely sprained toe, had a magnetic-resonance image (MRI) taken yesterday. He still has not practiced since suffering the injury and will try to run at this morning's shootaround and will be a game-time decision.

Yet the Sonics left San Antonio after Game 5 ruing errors more than injuries.

"When you watch the tape it's frustrating, because you feel like we shot ourselves in the foot," forward Nick Collison said. "We had an opportunity. We ended up losing by 13 but if we could have stopped a couple of runs, we would have had an opportunity to win."

The Sonics couldn't keep Manu Ginobili out of the paint or off the free-throw line. He scored 39 points, a total boosted by his 15-for-17 shooting from the free-throw line. The Sonics also lost track of Spurs' center Nazr Mohammed, who scored 19 points, the same combined total as Games 1-4.

The Sonics weren't genuflecting in front of the Spurs so much as they were kicking themselves. They never led, but came back to tie the score at halftime. After falling behind by 14 points early in the third quarter, they cut the deficit to five early in the fourth quarter.

"It was more of what we did or what we didn't do that gave them opportunities," McMillan said. "As poorly as we executed in that game, we were close and right there."

McMillan spoke to his players for about 5 minutes after practice. The meeting wasn't exactly fire and brimstone since it began with a laugh. The coach had said there were only two players who had ever been this far into the playoffs: Daniels and Ray Allen. He had forgotten Mateen Cleaves, who was part of two Sacramento Kings' postseason runs. The erstwhile King spoke up, drawing laughter from the team.

Experience is something the Sonics are earning, and even now as they face the prospect of elimination, it's not so much a dire situation as a question of desire, said McMillan.

"They're in a situation where you have to want it," he said. "You have to want to be there. I know there are a lot of teams at home, people in their convertibles. You have to want to be here this time of year, simple as that."

P-I reporter Danny O'Neil can be reached at 206-448-8209 or dannyo'[email protected]

[Jimcs50]

"Destination Finals" reads the logo on the gray T-shirt. The Sonics' emblem is in one corner and an image of the league-championship trophy sits in the other.

Well, good thing they do not have the year on it, they can use them again next year.

:)

[Jimcs50]

Notes:

HOME COOKING: The Sonics and Heat are the only teams who have yet to lose at home during the playoffs this season, and the home team has won the first five games of Seattle's conference semifinal series against San Antonio.

Finding home court to be an advantage is something new, since the Sonics had as many road victories as home victories during the regular season. That has changed in the postseason, in which Seattle is 1-4 on the road and 5-0 at home. After the latest road loss, the Sonics are hoping home court provides a similar boost as in Games 3 and 4, when the Sonics won two in a row after losing the first two games of the series by double digits.

"We come back home, down 2-0, and the building it does something to the opposing team, it does something to the home team," Allen said. "People get very rowdy. I think it affects referees and what they do. I think it's something that you can't see."



ON POINT

This year's Western Conference semifinals have been a case of diminishing returns for Tony Parker, whose scoring has declined with each game during the series:

Stat Gms 1-2 Gms 3 -4
Avg. points 25.5 13.7
FG pct. 54.5 38.6
FT pct. 93.8 58.3
Assist per TO 2.5 2.2


This trend will reverse tonight. :smokin

[smeagol]

"That's our fault for losing six games in a row at the end of the season," Fortson said. "That's what we have to deal with now. And yeah, it does suck flying four hours down to San Antonio. I can't stand it. It's getting old. I'm tired of that damned Riverwalk. I'm getting tired of everything about San Antonio."
Does everybody in Seattle have a big mouth?

[nkdlunch]

James is a non-stop retarded quote machine