Live From The Press Box - Sonics vs. Golden State
Want to enjoy the electricity of being Live at the Hardwood even if you're thousands of miles away? SUPERSONICS.COM's Live From the Press Box in-game blog is your best bet. All night and all season long, Kevin Pelton will be bringing you pregame Q&As and observations from the game. Make sure to keep coming back or refreshing so you get the latest content.
Sonics Win!
Posted at 9:46 p.m.
Well, this one did end up a blowout after all, the Sonics outscoring Golden State 51-32 after halftime to win 103-84. This game really showcased the Sonics depth in Rashard Lewis’ absence. 19 points for Antonio Daniels, 17 for Flip Murray, 13 and 11 rebounds for Danny Fortson. The bench outscored Golden State 47-9. The Sonics move to 26-9 on the season. Listen to KJR 950 AM for more analysis on the Sonics Postgame Show with David Locke and Dick Fain.
It’s Over
Posted at 9:43 p.m.
How can your humble reporter say that for certain? Ibo Kutluay is in for the Sonics (his fourth appearance of the season) and rookie Luis Flores is seeing his first action for Golden State. Flores replaced Speedy Claxton, thereby ending Claxton’s pursuit of his career high. New drama: Can Ibo score the first points of his career?
Nothing New
Posted at 9:39 p.m.
Really nothing new to report as we hit the three-minute mark of the fourth quarter. The Sonics lead by 14 with a second Danny Fortson free throw forthcoming, and the only drama left appears to be whether Speedy Claxton can break his career scoring high (it’s 28; he’s at 27 right now). We should give the Sonics defense some credit; after scoring 52 points in the first half, the Warriors have just 31 post-halftime. (19 of those, incidentally, have come from Speedy.)
Professional
Posted at 9:30 p.m.
The Sonics aren’t dominating in the absence of Rashard Lewis, but they’ve been solid and professional, particularly in the second half, and appear to be on the verge of securing a win they needed to get. They lead by 13 as the clock ticks towards the five-minute mark, and Danny Fortson (10 points, six rebounds) is increasingly controlling the game with his physical play.
Rock and a Hard Place
Posted at 9:22 p.m.
Imagine being the FSN cameraman who just had Danny Fortson hurdle out of bounds towards him and land on top of him after losing his balance while rebounding. There aren’t a lot of non-NFL players who are less desirable to have land on you than the 6-8, 260 Fortson. A Flip Murray dunk gives the Sonics an 87-74 lead. This is Murray’s best game since Dec. 18 against Denver; he’s got 13 points on 6-for-10 shooting. Oh, and the cameraman appears to be okay, fortunately.
To the Fourth
Posted at 9:16 p.m.
A curious substitution by Mike Montgomery, who put in second-year forward Zarko Cabarkapa for the last couple of minutes of the third quarter. The 6-11 Cabarkapa was matched up against 6-4 Sonics guard Flip Murray, and Murray was able to beat him for a jumper. That and five points from Antonio Daniels, who has 15 in his first start of the season, give the Sonics an 81-71 lead going to the fourth. If they come out strong early in this period, they have the opportunity to take care of business. Speedy Claxton finishes the quarter with 15, incidentally.
Key Stretch
Posted at 9:10 p.m.
A 9-2 Sonics run, capped by a Vlade Radmanovic jumper, has given the Sonics their largest lead of the night at 74-67. It’s also apparently broken Mike Montgomery … the Warriors trainer was spotted bringing a broken clipboard to the baseline and … you put two and two together. There’s 3:15 left to play in the third quarter, and if the Sonics can close it out strong, that would make a big difference going to the final period. They need to stop Speedy Claxton, who has 13 in the period.
Nick the Starter
Posted at 8:55 p.m.
On Tuesday, Sonics rookie Nick Collison didn’t see action in the second half until the final minute. Tonight, it’s a very different second half, as he started, apparently to try to control Nick Collison up front. A near-incident between Reggie Evans and Mike Dunleavy. Dunleavy, upset because he felt he got fouled underneath, blatantly raked Evans across the arms as he went up for a shot. Evans used his acting skills to try to draw a flagrant foul (he didn’t) and the two had thoughts of confronting each other before cooler heads prevailed. After seeing the replay and Evans’ acting, Adonal Foyle had a good hearty laugh on the Warriors bench.
Apropos of nothing, Dunleavy has the tag visible on the back of his shorts (the Warriors are wearing their alternate orange jerseys this evening). Also, Speedy Claxton has hit a pair of acrobatic shots for three-point plays, keeping up with Ray Allen’s three-point shooting for the Sonics (he’s got eight in the quarter).
StoudAmire?
Posted at 8:48 p.m.
If you had told me Amare Stoudemire had scored 54 points tonight, I wouldn’t have been particularly surprised. After all, Stoudemire’s already dropped 50 this season. But Damon Stoudamire? Can’t be, can it? The Blazers point guard scored more than half of his team’s points in a 112-106 loss at New Orleans (and, as an aside, who saw the Hornets winning three in a row?), shooting 20-for-32 from the field, 8-for-16 from downtown and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. This raises a discussion about the worst player ever to score 50. Tony Delk’s name came up, naturally, but the clear winner in my mind has to be Willie Burton, who
had 53 points on Dec. 13, 1994. You’re probably a pretty serious NBA junkie if you ever remember Willie Burton.
It’s Halftime
Posted at 8:33 p.m.
After 24 minutes of action, we’re all square at 52 apiece. The Sonics are undefeated this season when the game is tied at the half (and I’ll just avoid mentioning they’ve only played one such game). The Sonics need to do a better job of containing Troy Murphy, who is two rebounds shy of a double-double at the half (14 points, eight boards). On the offensive side, turnovers have been little bit of a problem (10), but the Sonics are shooting a sizzling 57.5%, so any improvement is going to have to come on the defensive side of the ball.
Power of the Bench
Posted at 8:28 p.m.
The Warriors have gotten 26 points from their forward duo of Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy and 16 points from guards Speedy Claxton and Derek Fisher, yet they still trail 52-50. That, my friends, is the power of the bench. With a Dale Davis layup on their last possession, the Warriors have six points off the bench. With Vlade Radmanovic draining a long jimmy, the Sonics have gotten 22 from theirs, even with Antonio Daniels starting.
Pietrus Report
Posted at 8:20 p.m.
Mixed night for Mickael Pietrus, the Warriors 2003 lottery pick and their best young prospect. The Warriors - and anyone who watched their last 15 games or so last season - likes Pietrus’ potential to be a stopper on defense, but he’s struggled against Flip Murray, who gave the Sonics a lift early in this quarter and has seven points. On offense, however, Pietrus’ athleticism has been impossible to miss. He’s made a couple of great moves to get to the bucket. If he can become a shooter, Pietrus will be real good.
Warriors Observations
Posted at 8:11 p.m.
The Golden State bench seems much quieter than the Clippers bench on Tuesday night, though that might solely because of the absence of loudmouth Mikki Moore. … Troy Murphy is much skinnier than I recall him being. He has a funny shot - it looks like he’s not strong enough to shoot from outside, but the shots somehow fall. Murphy also could pass for the younger brother of Warriors assistant Terry Stotts. … Rookie Andris Biedrins, the Warriors 18-year-old lottery pick from Latvia, looked quite raw while shooting before the game. Biedrins was placed on the injured list today when Golden State activated Dale Davis. … Other than the salt and pepper in his beard, assistant coach Mario Elie looks like he could still play.
Bavasi Spotted
Posted at 8:06 p.m.
Rick Sund is back East scouting, but the number of bald GMs at KeyArena was still at one with Bill Bavasi of the Mariners sitting courtside for the second straight game. Bavasi got a rousing hand when he was introduced to the crowd during the break between the first and second quarters.
Through One Quarter
Posted at 8:02 p.m.
An 11-0 run late in the first quarter gave the Sonics the lead for the first time, but Golden State rallied to take a 28-27 lead after one quarter. Troy Murphy has been dominant down low, recording seven points and six rebounds, but the Sonics have countered by putting Danny Fortson into the game. Those guys are no strangers to each other after battling during Warriors practices for two seasons. Mike Dunleavy was quiet late in the first quarter, finishing with 12 points. He played a surprising amount as a distributor given the Warriors had two point guards on the court throughout the first quarter. Ray Allen had seven to lead the Sonics, who shot 12-for-20 from the field.
Monty
Posted at 7:55 p.m.
After the Warriors took their largest lead of the game, 22-13, the Sonics answer with a 7-0 run, five of the points courtesy Ray Allen. Mike Montgomery responds by taking time out. I’ve been watching Montgomery’s demeanor tonight. He has a reputation as something of a disciplinarian, but I haven’t noticed any abnormal amount of yelling from the Warriors sideline and Montgomery seems calm during the huddle.
She Said Yes!
Posted at 7:47 p.m.
The first timeout of tonight’s game featured a marriage proposal in Section 101, row 12 or so. I don’t have complete records, but I believe this to be our first proposal of the season. Discussion question - when is the best time of the game for a proposal? Do you want to go early to avoid nervousness, or do you want to wait a little bit to build up confidence?
Mike Dunleavy has been the star of this game so far, scoring eight points and playing outstanding defense on Ray Allen in what looked like a mismatch on paper. 10-5 Warriors four minutes in.
Replacing Lewis
Posted at 7:39 p.m.
So how do the Sonics replace All-Star candidate Rashard Lewis? Not with any one player, that’s for sure. Antonio Daniels will get the start, giving the Sonics the same lineup they used in the second half Wednesday at the L.A. Clippers after Lewis was ruled out, but Daniels won’t be the only player adding playing time. The Sonics will look at a bigger lineup using Vladimir Radmanovic at small forward.
“Yeah, we’ll have to look at him at that position probably more,” said McMillan. “Then we’re going to be playing small a little bit. We’ll definitely have some changes to what we’re doing.”
One player who will definitely see more time is Flip Murray, who picks up minutes as the third guard in three-guard lineups.
“It’s an opportunity for Flip to play and help us,” said McMillan.
The decision to start Daniels was motivated primarily by a desire to keep Radmanovic coming off the bench, where McMillan can use him to create mismatches, though he also cited a desire to get better ball movement and quicken the pace of the game.
Lewis Out
Posted at 7:27 p.m.
The big story from tonight’s pre-game media availability is that Sonics forward Rashard Lewis has been ruled out because of patella tendinitis in his left knee. In Lewis’ place, Antonio Daniels will get the start tonight as Sonics Coach Nate McMillan goes to a three-guard lineup.
“We just felt like we needed to give him a break and get him ready for Sunday’s game,” said McMillan, who added that Lewis and trainer Mike Shimensky concurred on the decision. “We hope that this will help him recover.”
Lewis, the Sonics second-leading scorer at 20.6 points per game, will miss his first game of the season.
“It’s a part of the season, that time of the season when lots of guys have bumps and bruises, are a little sore,” said McMillan. “Other guys have to step in.”
Signing On
Posted at 7:24 p.m.
My foray into courtside seating extends to a second game as the Sonics take on the Golden State Warriors tonight at KeyArena on Friday Night Live. The Sonics are looking to extend Golden State’s losing streak to eight games and resume the domination they had over the Warriors when they swept them three straight seasons to start this decade. A few tickets are still available, so get down to the Key if you can. If not, pull up a chair and get comfy as we bring you the complete story of tonight’s game beginning to end.
