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Four in a Row!
Posted at 10:24 p.m.
108-78 your final, as the Sonics get their biggest win of the season and have now won their last four games by an average of 22.5 points per game. The Sonics will put their four-game winning streak on the line Friday against the Toronto Raptors at KeyArena, and we’d love to have you in the building. Remember to join us Live From The Press Box if you can’t make it. That’s all from Section 214, but check back with SUPERSONICS.COM for postgame quotes and notes later this evening.
Swifty Scores!
Posted at 10:20 p.m.
To the delight of the crowd, Robert Swift gets his first NBA basket on a six-foot jumper from the right side with three minutes and change left in the game. Ridnour then goes behind his back to Nick Collison, who is fouled while attempting a dunk. The Sonics lead by 36 points!
The Redhead
Posted at 10:14 p.m.
Robert Swift is up off the bench and, barring an incredible stretch without a dead ball, will get his longest extended run since the opener. There’s a foul, and Swift will check in to replace Danny Fortson. Both players earn lusty ovations.
On Ice
Posted at 10:06 p.m.
There’s still 6:20 on the clock, but Ray Allen’s three just gave the Sonics a 27-point lead. I think we can safely put this one in the W column. When was the last time the Kings lost this badly, you ask? Well, their worst margin of defeat last season was 24 points, and that’s in jeopardy right now.
Sonics Back at Key Friday
Posted at 10:03 p.m.
There’s still over seven minutes left in this one, but with the Sonics up 21 and in command, we can look ahead to Friday. The Sonics will try to continue their good start when the equally-hot Toronto Raptors come to town for a 7:30 tip. Led by the surprising play of point guard Rafer Alston, the Raptors are off to a 4-1 start and tonight became the first team to take down the Utah Jazz. Raptors swingman Vince Carter remains one of the league's most exciting players and Chris Bosh is a rising star.
Get your tickets now!
Tom Tolbert, Warriors Legend
Posted at 9:52 p.m.
Look at the camera, Tom!
M. David Leeds/NBAE/Getty
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If you're watching tonight's game on ESPN, you're hearing the color commentary of ESPN's Tom Tolbert. After a seven-year NBA career, Tolbert went into radio, and he began a national career as a color commentator and studio analyst with NBC during the 2001-02 season. Tolbert went along as the national rights passed over to ESPN and has been a part of the network's NBA coverage ever since. SUPERSONICS.COM chatted with Tolbert before the game about his take on the start of the 04-05 season.
Opening week of the season. What do you think the stories are?
Tolbert: I’m loving watching Phoenix. They are very exciting, playing a great brand of basketball. I think they’re trying to do that up here in Seattle as well, trying to get up and down the court, want to play fast, play exciting, but no one does it as well as Phoenix. They are a powerhouse, and I think they are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the Pacific. It’s so early. Sacramento is 1-3, Memphis is 0-4 and playing the Lakers tonight (they won). It’s hard to say. Usually it takes about a month. One thing that does jump out at me is Utah (who lost later). Not only are they winning, they’re smashing people. And Denver’s getting smashed. I think they were on the receiving end of two of those Utah wins.
How different is it to play when you’re expected to win, as Denver and Memphis are?
Tolbert: It’s the backup quarterback syndrome. It’s a lot easier when you’re holding the clipboard and the starting quarterback stinks and everybody loves you and is cheering for you and they want you to come in. You can almost do no wrong. When you’re the starting quarterback, you can be the same guy but the next year be the starting quarterback, now they’re expecting you to win. Same thing goes for teams. When you’re a team that’s not expected to win and nobody’s expecting a lot, you go out there and give them a little bit, they’re happy. You go out there and give them a lot, they’re really happy. Now people expect Denver is going to win. Their fans are expecting them to win. When people play them, they’re expecting to get a tough game. Sometimes, it’s a little more difficult to handle it when you are the hunted rather than the hunter.
How much does a point guard like Steve Nash make the players around him better?
Tolbert: If you have a great point guard that understands the offense and when to get the ball to people, how to get the ball to people, where people need the ball, where people want to ball … and then for that offense. They also brought in Quentin Richardson. (They had) Joe Johnson, Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion. Those guys can fly up and down the court. It’s nice, when you run, if you have small guys that you can run, but there aren’t a lot of small guys in this league that can’t run. When you have big guys that can run, now you can really exploit the opposition. And there’s nobody in this league, except for maybe Jason Kidd, that runs the break better than Steve Nash.
The Sonics are setting great screens. Can you win doing just that?
Tolbert: You’ve got to make shots. But to get open shots, if you’re not going to do it in the open court, you’ve got to have guys who are going to set picks and, more importantly, guys that are willing to set picks. What guys don’t realize - and Chris Mullin taught me this a long time ago - is that if you set a good pick, you’re the one that’s going to get open more often than not. Because if you set a good pick, your guy has to help out on the shooter, you’re slipping, you get an easy shot from five feet. You set a good back pick, your guy has to help, the other’s guy scrambling, you get a pick-and-pop.
We’re Through Three
Posted at 9:47 p.m.
The Sonics are 12 minutes of basketball away from winning their fourth straight game. Despite all the foul trouble, the Sonics outscored Sacramento 23-21 in the third period and take a 16-point lead to the fourth quarter. The Sonics need to pound the ball in the paint - a free-throw shooting contest favors them, because they start with such a big lead - and keep Peja Stojakovic from getting loose for threes that can bring the Kings back in a hurry.
Not Sure What to Say
Posted at 9:43 p.m.
Luke Ridnour just became the fifth Sonics player to pick up his fourth foul during the third quarter. Of the Sonics starters, only Rashard Lewis (one) is not on the bench with four fouls. Aggressively enforcing contact rules seems to have helped scoring, but at what cost? The end of this quarter has basically been a free-throw shooting contest.
Luke Feeling It
Posted at 9:35 p.m.
Yeah, that Luke Ridnour shooting slump? That’s gone. Ridnour just had a gorgeous move, splitting two defenders to get to the hole and finishing with his right hand from down low up and in off glass (words can’t do it justice) while drawing the foul. After hitting the free throw, Ridnour’s at 15 points for the night. His career high (17 at Denver on Dec. 20) is within reach.
Sonics Fight Back
Posted at 9:29 p.m.
Luke Ridnour hits a gorgeous teardrop runner that, in Kevin Calabro parlance, “Came down wet,” then the Sonics get great passing as Ridnour hits Allen in the secondary break, who unselfishly finds Danny Fortson down low to draw a foul and hit two free throws. Fortson - who does a lot of the so-called “Moses Malone play” - padding your stats by getting your own offensive rebound - then scores on his second effort to put the Sonics up 64-51 and force Rick Adelman to take a TO. 11 points and nine rebounds for Fortson.
It’s the NBA, and Everybody Makes a Run
Posted at 9:20 p.m.
The Kings are officially making theirs, getting within 55-46 with 8:01 left in the third and Chris Webber still with one free throw to go. Nate McMillan takes a timeout. How will the Sonics respond?
Foul Trouble
Posted at 9:15 p.m.
On the next two plays of the second half, Reggie Evans and Jerome James are called for offensive fouls, leaving them with four fouls apiece. The Sonics have been called for an incredible 19 as a team. Wait, make it 20 and five for James.
Great Start
Posted at 9:13 p.m.
On the first play of the second half, the Kings overplayed Ray Allen coming off a pick, and he double-clutched and found a wide open Jerome James for the flush. Other teams will adjust to the Sonics use of screens; they’ll need plays like that to keep getting as open as they have been.
Halftime Stats
Posted at 9:10 p.m.
Reggie Evans has 10 rebounds in 17 minutes. Nice. Nine assists and no turnovers for Sonics point guards Luke Ridnour (five) and Antonio Daniels (four). Kings forwards Peja Stojakovic and Chris Webber are a combined 4-for-20 from the field. The Kings bench appears as weakened as it’s reputed to be - two points and three rebounds in the first half. The Sonics counter with 16 points and eight boards. Together, Evans and Danny Fortson have 16 rebounds in 25 minutes. The Sacramento Kings have 21 rebounds in 24 minutes as a team. It’s tough to overstate how much improved the Sonics are on the glass.
No Cheering in the Press Box?
Posted at 9:05 p.m.
Apparently that rule does not apply for Red Panda (and perhaps other halftime acts).
At the Half
Posted at 8:56 p.m.
A big Vladimir Radmanovic three with just under 30 seconds left in the half ensures that the Sonics take a 14-point lead to the half, 53-39 despite some foul calls they didn’t entirely agree with. Webber finishes the first half 1-for-11 from the field. Funny, didn’t Tim Duncan shoot something similar on Sunday? Maybe that’s not a coincidence. No, it isn’t - the Sonics are doing a great job of forcing opposing high-scoring power forwards (Kenyon Martin as well) to play on the perimeter, where they have not been effective. Can the Kings be the first team to figure it out? Tonight’s halftime entertainment is a classic: Red Panda, who balances bowls on her head while riding a unicycle. I’m left wondering - how exactly does someone discover this talent?
I Forgot
Posted at 8:51 p.m.
Not having seen him play, either in person or on TV, in some time, I’d forgotten how good Brad Miller is. Miller is an All-Star, but still underrated. He does the big things, like scoring and rebounding, and the little things too. He’s shooting 55.3% from the field this year, is a fine rebounder, a solid defender and a great passer for a center to boot. Miller is single-handedly keeping the Kings in this game right now. If the San Antonio Spurs had signed Miller in the summer of 2003, I honestly believe we’d be talking about the two-time defending champs.
Celebrity Spotting With Steve Sloboda
Posted at 8:46 p.m.
Steve Sloboda of the Sonics game-night staff is considered the KeyArena’s answer to Joan Rivers, training his binoculars from the press box to find out the goings-on in the crowd. Sloboda will be giving us some key celebrity sightings throughout the season. Tonight, it’s a football-heavy crowd mid-week. Seahawks Maurice Morris, Marcus Trufant and Marcus Tubbs. Also in the house is UW football legend Steve Emtman, now a strength coach for the Huskies.
Danger Zone
Posted at 8:40 p.m.
It’s 41-30 Sonics with four and a half minutes left in the first half, and they need to close the half strong. There isn’t a lot of flow to the game right now, and the Kings are taking advantage. Workman-like Brad Miller, who destroyed the Sonics last year to the tune of 20.3 points and 15.0 rebounds per game, now has 10 points and six rebounds and is bringing the Kings back.
Ray or Peja?
Posted at 8:36 p.m.
Tonight’s game matches up the two players widely considered the NBA’s two best pure shooters in Ray Allen and Peja Stojakovic. I conducted my own little survey of NBA experts before the game, asking them which player they thought was the better shooter.
Kevin Calabro, Sonics play-by-play broadcaster: Ray.
Nate McMillan, Sonics Coach: I’ll take both. (AKA the politically correct answer.)
David Locke, Sonics pre- and postgame host on 950 KJR AM: Peja, but barely. They’re both so good.
Tom Newell, former Sonics and NBA assistant coach: Ray, by far.
Mike Kahn, CBSSportsline.com: I think Ray. He’s got more diversity of shots, he’s better able to create his own shot.
Tom Tolbert, ESPN: Right now, Ray is. Ray’s shooting a lot better than Peja is. But over the long haul, it’s pretty much dead even. These two guys probably get the ball off quicker than anybody else in the league.
It looks like the consensus - and of course this is a completely unbiased group of observers - is that the Sonics have the best pure shooter in the league, as good as Stojakovic may be.
Tough D
Posted at 8:25 p.m.
In the first quarter, the Sacramento Kings - the second-best offensive team in the NBA a year ago and the league’s leaders much of the season - shot 26.5% from the field. On the other end, Danny Fortson owns the offensive boards and has six points already, all off offensive boards. The KeyArena crowd loves him right now. Through last night, Fortson was grabbing approximately 35% of all rebounds when he was in the game. Think about that - there are teams that barely grab 35% of rebounds in games. He’s doing it all by himself. Sonics lead 37-20.
Nice Shooting!
Posted at 8:17 p.m.
The Sonics hot start from the field carries over to the fans shooting during the quarter break. Brett - whose stroke is reminiscent of Peja Stojakovic’s in how tight he tucks his elbow - beats the buzzer with a three to win, while Pat Layton does him one better, getting to the halfcourt shot and hitting it on his second try. Congrats to both!
Through One
Posted at 8:13 p.m.
Danny Fortson continues to win admirers in Seattle, coming up with an offensive rebound as the first quarter comes to the close and drawing a foul almost simultaneous to the buzzer. That forces a review (our first of the season at KeyArena), but the refs rule it was indeed before the end of the period. That gives Fortson two shots with 0:00.1 on the clock. He hits them both and the Sonics take a 33-20 lead.
OsTerTag
Posted at 8:08 p.m.
Shortly after checking into the game, new Kings center Greg Ostertag is assessed a technical foul, presumably unhappy with the pushing and shoving going on between him and Sonics forward Danny Fortson (wearing his hair in pig tails this evening). Ostertag was seriously incensed, having to be restrained from going after the officials, but avoided ejection.
Olympians In The House
Posted at 8:08 p.m.
The Sonics used the last timeout to honor several local Olympians. On hand are Canadian baseballer Aaron Myette (who pitched for the University of Washington before embarking on an MLB career); fencer Seth Kelsey of Bush Prairie, Wash.; Jordan Malloch of Seattle (canoe); Bronze-medalist equestrian Amy Tryon of Duvall; and sue Nattrass, a 1976 Canadian Olympian (trap-shooting) who now lives in Seattle. Rashard Lewis made a shot that deserved a gold-medal, hitting from the baseline as he was falling out of bounds and behind the backboard. ESPN finally picks up the game with two minutes and change left in the first quarter and notes the Kings have missed 12 of their first 13 shots.
Block Party
Posted at 8:00 p.m.
Rashard Lewis had a career-high five blocks last Friday and, while it won’t go in the scoresheet that way, he just had two on one play against Chris Webber. Unfortunately, Lewis was called for a foul on the second one - he questioned it, running to the other end of the court to burn off his anger - but it was a great recovery after the Kings beat the Sonics press. In pregame, Nate McMillan praised Lewis’ defensive activity.
Good Fake
Posted at 7:55 p.m.
Chris Webber just literally faked himself out of his shoes, having his left shoe fall off after up-faking Jerome James. Jerome wasn’t having any of it. Also, Ray Allen hit one of the more improbable off-balance jumpers I’ve ever seen coming off of a pick. He’s real good. Rashard for three, and the Sonics lead 20-8.
Ready to Play
Posted at 7:50 p.m.
“To start the game off, we jumped into the game, and we put the ball in the hole,” Ray Allen said after last night’s 20-point win over Denver. “And that's something that our team has to know: Our two best players have come ready to play.”
Rashard Lewis starts the night with two scores down low, and Allen follows with a three-pointer and a three-point play. They’ve come to play. Meanwhile, in an unrelated note, Sacramento’s Chris Webber has started 0-for-5. 14-6 Sonics with 7:20 to play - timeout Sacramento. Chris Webber shoots an elbow jumper before sitting on the bench for the timeout. Naturally, he hits it.
Z For Three!
Posted at 7:42 p.m.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas hits the fourth three of his NBA career to send Cleveland-Phoenix to OT. Nuts. We’re starting here anyway.
Double-header
Posted at 7:37 p.m.
Yeah, we’re here for the late game, Sonics-Kings, but TVs on press row are all turned to game 1 of ESPN’s double-header, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Phoenix Suns. The Suns looked to have the game - and a 5-0 start to the season well in hand - but the host Cavaliers have mounted an impressive comeback, cutting the lead to one with 14.1 seconds to play. They’re inbounding for the final play right now. James gets it, kicks to Kittles, who airballs the three. James gets the rebound, but they say he’s out of bounds. Nash fouled and heading to the line with 6.7 to play.
Starting Fives
Posted at 7:27 p.m.
No surprise in the starting lineups we’ve just been handed. Ridnour/Allen/Lewis/Evans/James go for the Sonics, Bibby/Christie/Stojakovic/Webber/Miller for the Kings.
Signing On
Posted at 7:25 p.m.
Fresh off a fine dinner in the press room, I'm in Section 214 and ready to kick off a fine night of Sonics basketball. Your red-hot Seattle SuperSonics will battle the Sacramento Kings on ESPN starting in minutes. A few tickets are still left, so come on down if you’re in the house, or pull up a chair and get comfortable as we keep you updated all night long. Remember to hit refresh so you get the latest.
