SONICS: Live From the Press Box

Live From the Press Box - Sonics vs. Dallas

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Want to enjoy the electricity of at KeyArena 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 quotes, analysis and observations from the game. E-mail Kevin at sonicsconnection@sonics-storm.com. Make sure to keep coming back or refreshing so you get the latest content.

Sonics Succumb to Stingy Mavericks
Final: Dallas 90, Sonics 70

The Dallas Mavericks came into tonight's game on a roll, having won 10 of their last 12 games and played some of the best defense in the league in that span. The Sonics came in struggling to find a rhythm on offense over the last few games. Those trends intersected tonight, and the result was the Sonics scored a season-low 70 points. They played good enough defense for a quarter and a half to stay tight with the Mavericks and were still within striking distance during the third quarter, but ultimately Dallas was going to run away with the game unless the Sonics consistently put the ball in the basket, and they never were able to do so.

Overall, the Sonics did a solid job defensively againsta team that can put up points in bunches. Give Kurt Thomas, who pulled down 15 boards in 35 minutes of yeoman-like action, for playing strong defense. The Sonics also did an excellent job of holding Dallas' backcourt in check. Offensively, only Nick Collison, Kevin Durant and Wally Szczerbiak were able to manufacture much in the way of production. Durant played unselfishly against a Dallas defense designed to get him to pass the ball and handed out a career-high six assists, a nice sign in his development.

The Sonics take the weekend off to work at The Furtado Center and will be back here on Monday night, when the red-hot Los Angeles Lakers, featuring star guard Kobe Bryant, roll into town for their first visit of the season. Get your tickets now and join us for what should be an excellent game.

Sonics Connections
Fourth Quarter: Dallas 88, Sonics 67

Jon Kitna isn't the only guy courtside - some Sonics legends are in the house tonight. Fred Brown, whose No. 32 jersey hangs in the KeyArena rafters, is at courtside. Long-time Sonics player and former assistant coach Detlef Schrempf is also courtside. There are some Sonics ties on the Dallas bench, as Mavericks Head Coach Avery Johnson began his career as an undrafted rookie in Seattle, while former Sonics head man Paul Westphal is an assistant to Johnson.

Go Hawks!
Fourth Quarter: Dallas 82, Sonics 58

During this timeout, Squatch - sporting his No. 12 Seahawks jersey - has been joined on the court by former Seahawks and current Detroit Lions quarterback Jon Kitna, who tosses out some t-shirts before really showing off his arm by firing a football into the 200 level. Good luck to the Seahawks tomorrow, as they take on the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Divisional Playoffs.

Evaluating Howard
Fourth Quarter: Dallas 74, Sonics 53

Every once in a while, a game gives you a stat line that's hard to make sense of. Josh Howard hasn't been shy about shooting the ball tonight, hitting nine of his 21 shot attempts, but he's got 20 points and 10 boards. No assists, two turnovers. What kind of a game was that? I'm not sure - though I will say it seemed like Howard hit a number of big shots in the third quarter to help the Mavericks maintain and extend their lead, which is certainly in his favor.

Sonics Looking for Offense
End Third Quarter: Dallas 66, Sonics 48

Dallas finishes off the third quarter of play with an 18-point lead. Under ordinary circumstances, you'd be looking to get that back under 10 and then thinking comeback. Tonight, however, the team's difficulty scoring against what has been a very stout Mavericks defense complicates the issue. The Sonics have averaged 16 points over the first three quarters, with a high of 19. They'll have to really heat it up to make a run.

Dallas Run
Third Quarter: Dallas 61, Sonics 45

The Mavericks come out of their timeout with a run of their own. It's 6-0 and extends Dallas' lead to 16 points. With 3:16 left in the third quarter, the Sonics are again in a situation where they need a good stretch as P.J. Carlesimo takes timeout.

Tonight is the last opportunity to fans to vote for the Sonics in All-Star balloting, but there's still a little more time to vote online. Click here to cast your vote through 9 p.m. Pacific tomorrow night and help Luke Ridnour, Kevin Durant, Nick Collison and Wally Szczerbiak make it to New Orleans.

Sonics Hang Tough
Third Quarter: Dallas 55, Sonics 45

Solid stretch here for the Sonics, who have held the Mavericks in check defensively. They haven't been able to make up a ton of ground, but they're putting themselves in position to play for a comeback the rest of the way. Avery Johnson isn't pleased with the way his team has responded, and takes a timeout to talk it over.

During the break, a fun video on SonicsVision of Squatch scaring various Sonics & Storm employees at our business offices with an airhorn as they came in to work earlier this week. There were some priceless reactions. Man, am I glad I went directly to The Furtado Center that morning and didn't fall victim myself.

Crucial Stretch
Third Quarter: Dallas 49, Sonics 35

Dallas has opened the second half by scoring the first five points, including the team's first three-pointer of the evening by guard Eddie Jones. The spurt has pushed the lead to 14 points for the Mavericks, and given they're going to struggle to score against a Dallas team that is playing outstanding defense over the last four weeks, the Sonics need to get going now or risk falling too far behind to realistically be able to mount a comeback. Meanwhile, a veteran Dallas team will be trying to put this game away after halftime, as the best teams love to do. So I like P.J. Carlesimo's decision to call a timeout here to try to rally the troops.

Mavs Take Charge
Halftime: Dallas 44, Sonics 35

An 8-0 run late in the second quarter helped Dallas open up its lead, which is nine points as we head to halftime, just shy of its largest point (which was 10 points). Wally Szczerbiak helped stave off the run with a key three-pointer. He has scored 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting, including a pair of three-pointers.

The Sonics played defense well enough in the first half to win, holding Dallas to 35.6% shooting and an 0-fer from three-point range. They need to pick up their execution and, at times, their shot selection on offense. Defensively, they need to pay attention to the glass, having allowed 10 offensive rebounds amongst 27 opportunities.

Durant the Passer
Second Quarter: Dallas 34, Sonics 30

In part because the Mavericks are trapping him coming off of pick-and-rolls, Kevin Durant has been much more a passer than a scorer tonight. He hasn't scored since the middle of the first quarter, but has added two more assists to give him five this evening. That ties his career high, which he's done twice this season, most recently on Dec. 19 in New Orleans. Durant's five assists come against just one turnover.

Bench Finding Groove
Second Quarter: Dallas 28, Sonics 27

With three reserves on the floor (Delonte West, Damien Wilkins and Wally Szczerbiak) along with starters Jeff Green and Kurt Thomas up front, the Sonics have gotten going. They're on a 7-0 run to pull back within one point of the Mavericks, and hoped to get more on a break that might have gotten this crowd amped up before a turnover cut it short. The Sonics are outshooting Dallas 38.2% to 30.6% so far tonight, with offensive boards and free throws (the Sonics have none) making up the difference for the Mavericks.

Bench Finding Groove
Second Quarter: Dallas 28, Sonics 27

The Whole Tooth
Second Quarter: Dallas 26, Sonics 20

Damien Wilkins is playing tonight despite some dental difficulty earlier in the day. Wilkins still has his wisdom teeth, and had one become impacted. That began causing pain yesterday, and by today the situation worsened to the point where Wilkins had to visit a dentist, who scraped his gums to give the tooth some room, easing the pain.

"It's good now," said Wilkins, "but it hurt."

At some point Wilkins will probably have to have the tooth removed.

"I don't know when I'm going to be able to get it taken care of," he said. "As soon as we've got a break of three or four days before the next game ... ."

As PA Announcer Matt Pitman has informed the crowd, today is Damien's 28th birthday, and I'm pretty sure an impacted tooth wasn't part of how he wanted to start the day.

Collison Steps Forward
End First Quarter: Dallas 18, Sonics 16

Big first quarter for Sonics forward Nick Collison. Our stats are running behind right now, but we have Collison with six points and two rebounds - and I'm pretty sure he's being short-changed at least a rebound. Collison and Kevin Durant really did a great job of running the pick-and-roll during the first quarter. Nick was also responsible for keeping Erick Dampier at bay on the defensive end, which has been a challenge of late. Kurt Thomas added six rebounds and great defense in the first quarter, so you have to like what their big men are giving the Sonics.

Incidentally, we saw a first at KeyArena late in the first quarter. Officials used replay to decide whether a foul by Johan Petro merited the flagrant designation (deciding it did not). The NBA voted in September to allow referees to use replay in the cases of flagrant fouls and fights, but this is the first time it's been used here at the Key.

All Even So Far
First Quarter: Sonics 10, Dallas 10

The Mavericks have found a little bit better rhythm on offense - how could they not? - but the Mavericks and Sonics are still tied at 10 in what has been a defensive standoff over the first nine minutes tonight. Kevin Durant is showing some signs of having it going in the early going, having made a pair of jumpers in four shot attempts. He's also been seeing the floor very well - he's assisted on all three Sonics buckets, meaning he's had a hand in all 10 points the Sonics have scored thus far.

With little fanfare, a big streak has come to an end. Erick Dampier missed his first shot of the evening, stopping his streak of consecutive made buckets at 14. Art Garcia of Mavericks.com, blogging to my right, notes that the NBA record was 36 straight shots, set by Wilt Chamberlain way back in 1967.

Putting the D on Dallas
First Quarter: Sonics 6, Dallas 4

After a road trip that did not meet expectations, you have to like how the Sonics have responded coming out of the gates tonight. Their defense has been phenomenal for the first five-plus minutes. Dallas has made just one of its first 11 shot attempts and, while the Sonics have not been a whole lot hotter in terms of shooting the ball, they've taken an early 6-4 lead. Give Kurt Thomas a lot of credit - he's taken a charge, blocked a shot and generally played strong position defense. Nick Collison has done a great job of boxing out.

Mavericks Head Coach Avery Johnson looks to get the offense going by changing his backcourt. Reserves Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse, both of them very capable of scoring, will step in after this Johnson timeout.

Intros
Pregame

After the Mavericks starting five was introduced to the theme from Dallas (at least I think I recall that as the theme - I was pretty young during that series' run), Squatch repels down from the KeyArena rafters to hype up the crowd for the Sonics lineup. Now we're ready to go.

Wilcox Will Wait
Pregame

Sonics forward Chris Wilcox will miss tonight's game, his fourth straight since dislocating his right pinky finger at Phoenix a week ago yesterday. Wilcox has been working out one-on-one with members of the Sonics staff while the team was on the road, but making the transition to 5-on-5 basketball will be more challenging. His pain is still very significant. The plan at this point is for Wilcox to try to go through practice Sunday in preparation to potentially play Monday, when the Sonics host the L.A. Lakers.

Luke Ridnour, working through tightness and soreness in his left quad, is likely on the same timeline, though Ridnour is dressed for tonight's game. Sonics Head Coach P.J. Carlesimo wants to get Ridnour to the point where he's not taking one step forward and one step back in terms of his availability.

Signing On
Pregame

Welcome to KeyArena, where the Sonics are about to take the floor for the first time in 2008. Their opponent: the Dallas Mavericks, who come into tonight having won 10 of their last 12 games to move into first place in the Southwest Division. The Sonics are looking to end a lengthy streak of Dallas head-to-head success - 10 straight wins, which dates back to the 2004-05 season. Stay with us all night long for the latest news live from KeyArena.