Kevin Pelton, SUPERSONICS.COM | Feb. 9, 2005
The timing could have been better.
It's never easy playing the Sacramento Kings, who at 32-16 are fourth in the Western Conference and own the NBA's fifth-best record. But a combination of factors should mean the Kings will come into tomorrow's nationally-televised showdown with the Seattle SuperSonics at KeyArena (7:30 p.m., TNT, TICKETS) with no shortage of motivation.
"They have a lot of motivation," said Sonics guard Ray Allen after the team practiced Wednesday. "One, we beat them last time. Two, they lost their last game to Phoenix. And then the All-Star situation where they didn't get anybody in. Now, I think, is the time of the season you want to find every type of motivation to get you going. Our records are comparable; they want to prove they're the better team."
Miller has been frustrated by the Sonics defense (amongst other things).
Jeff Reinking/NBAE/Getty
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Let's take those one at a time. First, the Sonics success against the Kings. Seattle has taken both head-to-head matchups this season, a 30-point win in the Key in November that seems ages ago and also a 106-101 win in Sacramento last Tuesday, the wounds from which are much more fresh.
The Sonics played that game without Allen and Coach Nate McMillan, while the Kings were missing forwards Peja Stojakovic and Chris Webber. Behind Rashard Lewis' 24 points and 23 from Ronald "Flip" Murray, the Sonics came from behind to win.
Particularly frustrated by the Sonics this season has been Sacramento center Brad Miller. The Kings played four games recently without Stojakovic and Webber, and in three of them, Miller averaged 33.3 points and 13.7 rebounds, earning Western Conference Player of the Week. The fourth game was against the Sonics, and Miller had four points and seven rebounds before fouling out. While Miller played well against the Sonics in Seattle, he was driven to frustration.
"They were just grabbing and holding," Miller commented afterwards. "Not even trying to set picks or nothing. It was just blatantly grabbing. It gets frustrating because when you play the game you don’t teach people to grab and hold all the time but that’s what they were doing tonight."
Second, Phoenix's 125-123 victory at ARCO Arena yesterday evening. In a matchup of the top two teams in the Pacific Division, the Kings had a chance to tie on their final possession. Miller got the ball and lofted a shot toward the basket at the buzzer but saw it spiked out of bounds by Suns center Amaré Stoudemire. Miller was furious when no goaltend was called on the block (replays proved largely inconclusive).
"It hurts when you have a game that you should have won," Miller said following the game. "It makes it real tough."
Third, the All-Star situation. Webber, who is averaging 21.6 points, 9.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game, is widely considered the most deserving player not heading to Denver, but he's hardly alone - Miller, Stojakovic and Mike Bibby could all make cases for All-Star berths. The three teams above the Kings in the West standings (including the Sonics) combined for seven All-Stars, the Kings none.
Miller (who else?) explained the frustration after the game, saying, "It doesn’t surprise me the way people treat us and the respect we get."
McMillan understands where that feeling is coming from.
"They're one of the top teams, and they have three guys who were capable of making it - Bibby, Webber, Stojakovic," he said. "I had some votes their way. But that happens. Every year, some guys who probably deserve to be on the team, it depends on who you ask, are left off."
"Obviously, they have good players that deserve to be on the All-Star team," added Lewis. "But every year it's always a situation where somebody should have been on there, somebody shouldn't have been on there. That's just life in the NBA."
All of the motivational factors add up to what should be an outstanding matchup tomorrow night at the Key. They also mean the Sonics are going to have to bring their 'A' game to compete.
"That team is a good team," said McMillan. "For us to be up 2-0 on them, we're fortunate. We know that that's still a very good team and we're going to have to play a very good game to beat them. We can't turn the ball over. We're going to have to be sharp defensively. We're going to have to play a solid game."
The Sonics held a fairly light practice, walking through Sacramento's offense and shooting at different baskets during the portion open to the media.
"Most of our practices from here on out will be something similar to this," said McMillan. "We don't have a lot of days off. We've got a lot more games. We want to make sure we save guys' legs as opposed to doing a lot of running."
All 14 Sonics practiced.
Murray, whose role has been in flux much of the time since he returned from injury in the middle of December, played 10 minutes during the second quarter last night, scoring six points and hitting all three of his shots.
"It was an opportunity for Ron to get in there and play, and he came through," said McMillan. "I just respect him being professional about that type of role so far. He's kept himself ready and he's been productive when he's gotten an opportunity."
