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THAT would suck, we want them at full strength.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/basket...07_sonx31.html
Sonics may be short-handed against Spurs
McMillan flies home to be with ill mother; Allen suffering from flu
By DANNY O'NEIL
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Sonics head coach Nate McMillan was in Raleigh, N.C., yesterday to be with his mother, who is gravely ill.
Top scorer Ray Allen missed practice because of the flu.
Whether McMillan will be back for tonight's game against San Antonio was undecided yesterday, and Allen's status for tonight was equally unclear. But amid those concerns and questions, one apparent certainty at the Sonics' practice: The Spurs were headed to town with a bur in their britches after losing two games to Seattle this season.
"San Antonio is most definitely coming looking for payback," Sonics forward Rashard Lewis said.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich likely will do more than touch on the fact the Sonics are the only team to beat the Spurs twice this season.
"They're going to come in there and be extremely pumped up about paying us back," guard Antonio Daniels said. "'Pop' is that type of guy -- a very intense coach who wants to bring the best out in his players."
Daniels should know. He played four seasons in San Antonio, and in that time the Sonics scored 100 points or more against the Spurs only twice. Entering this season, those were the only two times Seattle had scored 100 points or more in its previous 23 games against the Spurs.
In the first 40 days of this season, the Sonics hit triple figures twice against the Spurs. The Sonics (30-12) are the only visiting team to win in San Antonio this season.
"They're going to psyche themselves up," Seattle center Jerome James said. "They had the best home record in San Antonio and we came in there and whupped 'em in there.
"So I'm not really worried about it. Bring your best, and we'll bring our best."
The Sonics haven't just had the Spurs' number this season. They've had their number programmed on speed dial. Why?
"Me," James answered.
He kept a straight face for about a second before melting into a smile. "Just kidding," James said. "I'm just playing around."
Seriously, though. Seattle had beaten San Antonio only once in the previous two seasons. That was on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Brent Barry on Nov. 24, 2002, in San Antonio. Seattle had lost seven consecutive games to the Spurs before their Nov. 7 victory.
"We have success against teams with post-up guys, because we force them to go to something else," James said. "We don't allow them to execute their games."
The Sonics roll big men into the game in waves. Reggie Evans and Jerome James start. Nick Collison and Danny Fortson come off the bench. None average more than 10 points individually, but collectively they add up to an intimidating physical presence. Evans and Fortson are among the top five players in the league in rebounds per minute. Fortson, James and Collison rank first, second and third in the NBA in fouls per minute.
The inside quartet was a central factor in the Sonics' first victory over San Antonio this season, when two-time league MVP Tim Duncan shot 4-for-16 from the field and scored 17 points. But on Dec. 8 Duncan had 39 points and Seattle still won. How?
Seattle's bench outscored San Antonio's bench 41-19 in the second game. Seattle also held an edge in bench scoring the first time at 46-28. The Sonics are 16-2 when their bench scores 40 or more points.
Seattle outrebounded San Antonio for the second consecutive game as well. The Sonics were outrebounded in all eight previous games against the Spurs.
Statistics are great for autopsies of past performances. As for predicting the future, there are other numbers that might be more telling:
Seattle has allowed an average of 100.6 points in 14 games this month after giving up an average of 94.2 the first two months of the season.
The Sonics have allowed more than 100 points in each of their six losses in January.
Associate head coach Dwane Casey -- who ran Seattle's practice in McMillan's absence yesterday -- said the team must find a way to increase its defensive intensity.
"If that light switch is not on, it could be a long night," Casey said.
FAMILY MATTERS: McMillan left yesterday morning to fly to Raleigh, where his mother is ailing. It's the second time this month McMillan has had to leave the team for a family emergency. His aunt, who had helped raise him, died this month of cancer. Now his mother is ill.
"It's most definitely a hard day today, Nate not being here and the concern for his mom," said Lewis, one of Seattle's co-captains. "I know he wants to be here with us as a team, but that's your mom. That's the person who raised you from the day you were born."
McMillan has missed two games in his four-plus seasons as coach. In January 2002, he left the team to be with his mother, who was ill, and then this month to attend the funeral for his aunt.
ALLEN AILING: Allen was out sick yesterday because of the flu, and Casey said if he can't play tonight there are three possible replacements: Antonio Daniels, Ronald Murray or Vladimir Radmanovic if the Sonics choose to use a three-forward lineup with Luke Ridnour the only guard.
Allen is one of five Sonics players to play in every game this season, and Lewis said he won't be surprised if Allen is in the lineup tonight.
"I think he will (play), just Ray being Ray," Lewis said. "He's trying to get well, but regardless if he's sick tomorrow or not, I think he's going to come in and try to give as much energy as he can."
RARE ROMPS
After going 1-7 against San Antonio the past two seasons, the Sonics have posted two victories over the Spurs this season:
Nov. 7, 2004: The Sonics snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Spurs as Rashard Lewis scored 27 points and Danny Fortson chipped in 15 and 13 rebounds in a 113-94 rout. The Sonics, who had not defeated San Antonio since Nov. 24, 2002, led 25-19 after 12 minutes and never trailed thereafter. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili scored 21 points apiece for San Antonio, but Tim Duncan was held to 17 on 4-for-16 shooting. Even with Ginobili making 7 of 12 shots, San Antonio's starting five combined to shoot 39 percent (23-for-59). The Spurs also committed 20 turnovers. Seattle shot 51 percent (39 of 77), including 6-for-13 shooting from beyond the arc, and missed just 4 of 33 free-throw attempts.
Dec. 8, 2004: Ray Allen scored 29 points as the Sonics built a big lead and held on for a 102-96 victory that snapped San Antonio's eight-game winning streak. Behind Allen's 19 points and a zone defense that throttled the Spurs, Seattle raced to a 60-41 halftime lead. During its winning streak, San Antonio allowed 60 points through three quarters just twice. Lewis scored 16 points, and Antonio Daniels and Fortson added 14 each for the Sonics. Duncan scored a season-high 39 points for the Spurs.
-- P-I staff
SPURRED ON
When the Sonics played the Spurs on Nov. 7, it had been three years since Seattle had scored more than 100 points against San Antonio. Now it's happened twice in the first two months of the season. The numbers against San Antonio:
2002-04 2004
Record 1-7 2-0
Scoring 85.3 107.5
FG pct. 41.1 49.0
3-point pct. 33.6 42.9
Sonics rebounds 37 37
Spurs rebounds 44 34.5
SONICS VS. SPURS
WHEN/WHERE:
7 tonight, KeyArena
TV/RADIO: FSN; KJR-AM/950
P-I reporter Danny O'Neil can be reached at 206-448-8209 or dannyo'[email protected]
THAT would suck, we want them at full strength.
I think that Ray Allen will play. The Sonics want to dominate the series against the Spurs. If he doesn't play, it will be quite a letdown.
Why, we aren't.....
If the spurs don't win this game without Allen and their coach....
Shoot yourselves in the head...
Then again we know that other teams missing key players don't really matter to the Spurs losing cause.
Practice what you preach.Shoot yourselves in the head...
Deep down the Sonics know they are due for an *^% whooping..... by not playing Allen (I will not even dare diss Coach McMillan considering his mother is ill) they've already set 'the excuse' for a loss.
They want to make the highly probable loss at Key Arena insignificant by saying "you only beat us because we played without our best player" but "we beat you twice when we were at full strength".
Anyways a 2-2 record against the Sonics is what we are aiming for when the dust settles on the regular season.....
If SA defense is worth anything, it should prove it tonight by holding Sonics under 100, or humiliate them at under 90.
The biggest difference I've noticed in the Sonics this year is that they play so hard. They out-effort their opponents (typically one of the hallmarks of the Spurs).
Antonio Daniels and Ridenour are a great 1-2 punch at the point. AD's Assist/TO ratio is 2nd to none in the NBA.
The Spurs had better bring all of their energy and toughness if they want to beat Seattle at Key Arena.
I hate to say this, but Allen and Radmonovic need to go nucking futs while the rest of the team shoots 3-28.
Why? Because I need a lot of F'n points in my fantasy league.
If we lose we lose.I still take my SPURS against any team 4 out of 7 in the playoffs.In the next 10 years SPURS win 3 or 4 les compare to the lakers 0 les,might be 0 les in the next 20 years.
I remember Kori posting once quite some earlier that Sonics generally lost their toughness with Danny Fortson getting in foul trouble early in the game and then getting himself ejected. I feel the spurs should try and get Fortson and Evans out of their game. The bring a lot of energy to the game. For this Duncan should be aggresive and drive to the basket rather than settling for jump shots.
Fortson only plays 18 minutes/game, during which short time, he averages 4.6 PF/game.
Probably for that reasonn, Forston seems to be saved from fouling out early by playing him little in 1,2,3 quarters, so he can be around as a closer, rebounding, putbacks, shooting FTs.
Any know how to get a distribution of Fortson's average minutes per quarter? My guess it they are very heavily loaded into the 4th qtr.
hey now
Go to NBA.com team schedules and box scores. There are play-by-plays showing subs utions for each game.
For example: versus the Spurs in the SBC center, Fortson came in with about 3:00 remaining in the 1st quarter and Spurs leading 20-18 and left with 7:50 remaining in the 2nd (roughly 7 minutes of PT) and Seattle leading 41-31.
Fortson returned with 5:31 remaining in the 3rd with the Sonics leading 66-55 and he finished out the period, score SEA 76 SA 68.
Fortson returned with 8:21 left in the game leading 83-78 and left with 3 seconds left in the game, leading 102-94.
So our team is depleted also. Duncan is sick, Rasho and Beno are injured, and Rose is in the doghouse
But how does that change the Wolves' position at #9?
Does beating the Spurs twice, justify this headline?
It's no secret: Sonics have solved Spurs
"he finished out the (4th) period"
... which is what I've seen in other games. He doesn't start, but he is more valued as a closer than the starting bigs. And he's been a damn good closer. One SEA game I watched (against another top team), he seemed to make every big play on both ends in crunch time, getting RBs, getting fouled AND making his FTs, he even scored on pic'n'roll from the elbow wth AND 1, which he made.
Maybe, so. It sets the marker out there for the Spurs to knock down. It's up to them to do something about it. Otherwise, the headline is justified.
No, but a win by the Sonics tonight will.
let them talk.
McMillan's mother apparently passed away last night.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...websoni31.html
Thoughts and prayers to him and his family. Much bigger than a basketball game.
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