SONICS: Live From the Press Box - Sonics vs. Cleveland

Live From the Press Box - Sonics vs. Cleveland

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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 Win Second Straight
Final: Sonics 101, Cleveland 95

Well, the Cavaliers managed to make the final couple of minutes a whole lot more dramatic than we expected, but the Sonics still prevailed by a 101-95 final. Give Kurt Thomas a ton of credit for taking a huge charge from Daniel Gibson with 8.1 seconds left and the Sonics up just four. The Sonics got enough stops down the stretch to hang on after building a big lead.

Obviously, the Sonics benefited from the absence of LeBron James, but that doesn't explain them coming out on fire on offense. Despite a frigid fourth quarter, their 56.4% shooting was still their second-best mark this season and their 34 assists were a season high. Earl Watson handed out 12 of those, the most a Sonics player has had this season, and played a key role on offense. The other four Sonics starters scored at least 16 points apiece, including 24 on strong 10-of-16 shooting from Kevin Durant. Fellow rookie Jeff Green remained perfect on the night, hitting all eight of his shot attempts. Chris Wilcox parlayed a quick start into a nice night and his second straight double-double.

Up next, the New York Knicks bring Seattle natives Jamal Crawford and Nate Robinson back home on Saturday. Both of those guys love coming home, making New York's visit to KeyArena an entertaining one. The Knicks are also playing some good basketball of late, coinciding with Robinson getting more minutes. Get your tickets for Saturday's game now!

Sonics Answer
Final: Sonics 97, Cleveland 88

Over their last three possessions, the Sonics have doubled their fourth-quarter scoring. After two Zydrunas Ilgauskas free throws pulled Cleveland within three, Kevin Durant was fouled taking the ball to the hoop and made both tries. He followed that with a layup in transition off of an Earl Watson feed after a Sonics stop. Kurt Thomas finished the 6-0 spurt by taking the ball to the hole for a layup. It's now a nine-point advantage with 1:35 to play and the Cavaliers need points in a hurry.

Sonics Answer
Fourth Quarter: Sonics 97, Cleveland 88

Hang-On Time
Fourth Quarter: Sonics 91, Cleveland 86

As we head to our final mandatory timeout of the game with 2:51 left to play, the Cleveland Cavaliers have closed to within five points and have Zydrunas Ilgauskas, a strong free-throw shooter, headed to the line for two shots. The Sonics have fallen pretty to the turnover bug, but they've also gotten some good looks that simply haven't gone down here in the fourth quarter, scoring just six points in the period.

Including last night's win in Portland, the Cavaliers have a league-high 13 wins in games they've trailed after three quarters. I also believe, if I'm remembering ESPN's graphic correctly, they've won 18 games they trailed at some point during the fourth. You'd hate to see them add another win to that list tonight.

Making it Interesting
Fourth Quarter: Sonics 89, Cleveland 79

You had to figure the Sonics shooting was bound to come down to Earth at some point tonight, and that's been the case here in the fourth quarter. They've made just two of eight shot attempts and turned the ball over three times, allowing the Cavaliers to go on an 11-4 run to pull within 10 with Zydrunas Ilgauskas headed to the free-throw line after this timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, P.J. Carlesimo will go with his timeouts minus forward Chris Wilcox, who has been replaced by Nick Collison.

Fear the Fohawk
Fourth Quarter: Sonics 89, Cleveland 75

The Sonics still have a comfortable 14-point advantage, but Cavaliers reserve guard Damon Jones is, along with Larry Hughes, doing his best to keep things interesting. Jones, who is sporting a fohawk, has 15 points tonight - two off his season high - on 5-of-9 shooting. All nine of his attempts have been three-pointers. The Sonics have dominated paint scoring tonight, outscoring Cleveland 38-12 in the paint through the third quarter, while the Cavaliers have attempted to answer from downtown with nine triples.

Going Green
End Third Quarter: Sonics 85, Cleveland 68

Lost in everything that has gone in during tonight's game has been the accurate shooting of Sonics rookie Jeff Green. Green has made all eight of his shots tonight, including his third three-pointer of the season, scoring 17 points. Green has hit twice from the outside, he's scored off the dribble and he's scored in transition, so he's really showing off a lot of his offensive game tonight. It's a nice way for Green to break out of a recent slow stretch.

Surprisingly, the Sonics haven't seen their shooting percentage fall at all since the first quarter. Through three periods complete, they've hit 62.3% from the field. And there have been 29 assists on 38 Sonics buckets.

Sonics Weather the Storm
Third Quarter: Sonics 81, Cleveland 58

Give the Sonics credit - they came out of their timeout focused and have outscored Cleveland 13-4 since then, expanding their lead to 23 points - the largest it has been tonight. With just over a quarter left and a long flight back to Ohio ahead of the Cavaliers, I wonder how hard Mike Brown ill push his team if it doesn't make a run in the next couple of minutes. Give Kevin Durant a lot of credit for the latest Sonics run with his defense. The Sonics put Durant on Larry Hughes and he quickly came up with a couple of blocks and a steal and Hughes hasn't scored since.

We've got a star-studded crowd out at KeyArena for tonight's game. Sonics legend Spencer Haywood, who had his No. 24 jersey raised to the rafters by the Sonics last year, is sitting courtside with former teammate Slick Watts. Also in attendance is bassist Jeff Ament from Pearl Jam, noted basketball and Sonics fans.

Cavs Rally Out of Break
Third Quarter: Sonics 68, Cleveland 54

In a lopsided game at halftime, the first few minutes of the third quarter often become critical to deciding the outcome. The Cavaliers have signaled their intent to make this a ballgame with a 12-6 surge to start the third quarter. Larry Hughes has caught fire for Cleveland. Hughes has scored 10 of the team's 12 points, making all four of his shot attempts after hitting 2-for-8 from the field before halftime. Hughes has three three-pointers tonight, which is pretty good for a guy who had only made 22 all season coming into tonight.

We'll see how the Sonics respond after a P.J. Carlesimo timeout.

20-Point Margin at the Half
Halftime: Sonics 62, Cleveland 42

The Sonics take it to halftime by drawing a charge on Larry Hughes just before the buzzer. That finishes off a half that sees the team tie its largest halftime lead of the season of 20 points. (They previously did that Nov. 14 in Miami, leading 61-41.) The Sonics shot 60.9% from the field in the half and three players scored double-figures (Kevin Durant and Chris Wilcox with 12 apiece, Kurt Thomas with 10). Three more scored at least five points.

On the Cavaliers side, predictably there has not been a go-to guy on offense with LeBron James out of the lineup. No Cleveland player has scored double-figures and the team is shooting 34.2%.

Frustrated Cavaliers
Second Quarter: Sonics 58, Cleveland 36

Back-to-back highlight plays for the Sonics. In transition, Luke Ridnour found Chris Wilcox for an alley-oop layup at the cup. The next time down, in the secondary break, Ridnour found Kurt Thomas in the paint for another layup. Trailing by 22, the Cavaliers look frustrated as Mike Brown takes a timeout. Eric Snow slammed the ball done in anger after signaling for the TO.

Ever wondered how long it takes to get from the court to the very top of the KeyArena seating area? For the NBA's best mascot, Squatch, the answer is 39.0 seconds. Climbing through the suite level and up into the 200 level, Squatch made the trip in 39.0 seconds to break the record of 42.5 seconds set by Cleveland's Moondog at Quicken Loans Arena in 2005.

Sonics Stay Hot
Second Quarter: Sonics 52, Cleveland 33

Going to the bench at the start of this second quarter has done little to change the efficient performance of the Sonics offense. The game has slowed down quite a bit, limiting the point total, but the Sonics are still shooting better than 60% from the field and have maintained a 20-point lead much of the quarter.

So far, the Sonics have done a great job of picking up the production they usually get from forward Wally Szczerbiak, sitting out tonight's game with a sprained right ankle. Incidentally, Szczerbiak was also one of the Sonics who had played every game this season. With him missing tonight's contest, Jeff Green is the only player left with perfect attendance for the Sonics.

Wilkins Plays Sick
Second Quarter: Sonics 46, Cleveland 28

Damien Wilkins Has been in the game with the Sonics second unit since late in the first quarter. He's feeling much better after the flu sidelined him yesterday and in Tuesday's game against San Antonio, but the damage has already been done. That game was the first in his NBA career Wilkins has missed due to injury. He was one of three Sonics to play all 82 games in 2006-07, the only one to do so in 2005-06 and one of three who had played the first 44 games of this season. All told, his consecutive-games streak was at 227, dating back to March 20, 2005. Before that, Wilkins had been healthy but not used and often on the Injured List as an undrafted rookie.

"I was upset about that," said a disappointed Wilkins of seeing the streak come to an end. "But health comes first."

Sonics Go for 40
End First Quarter: Sonics 40, Cleveland 24

Kevin Durant capped the highest-scoring Sonics quarter this season with a turnaround jumper on the baseline just before the buzzer. Durant had 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting in the quarter and seven Sonics scored in total. Chris Wilcox did not score after his fast start, but added seven rebounds to his 10 points. The Sonics shot a cool 63.0% and had 14 assists. Incidentally, when they played in Cleveland earlier this month, the Sonics scored just 33 points in the entire first half.

Funny moment with about two and a half minutes left in the first quarter when forward Donyell Marshall tried to check in for the Cavaliers but took his jersey off with his warmup. Though Cleveland got a delay of game warning, the Cavaliers still had a good laugh about the incident, even Head Coach Mike Brown. LeBron James, on the bench in street clothes, about busted a gut, doubling over in laughter.

Cavaliers Missing James on Defense?
First Quarter: Sonics 28, Cleveland 18

Conventional wisdom is that the Cavaliers struggle on offense when James is out of the lineup, and indeed they averaged just 79.3 points in the four games James missed earlier this season with a sprained left index finger. Tonight, however, Cleveland has been holding its own on offense despite mediocre 37.5% shooting. It's been on defense where the Cavaliers have been struggling. The Sonics are shooting 63.2%, and even when they've missed they've got five offensive rebounds. Cleveland did not have a defensive board until about seven and a half minutes into the game. Earl Watson has done a terrific job running the show for the Sonics, handing out seven assists so far. As a team, the Sonics have nine assists on 12 made baskets.

Weezy Leads Fast Sonics Start
First Quarter: Sonics 10, Cleveland 4

The Sonics offense has been all Chris Wilcox in the early going. He's scored the team's first 10 points as the Sonics have raced out to an early 10-4 lead less than three minutes into tonight's game. Wilcox has made all four of his shot attempts, two tries from the line and has turned two offensive boards into second-chance buckets. Mike Brown takes an early timeout to talk it over with his Cavaliers.

James Inactive
Pregame

While waiting in the Cleveland Cavaliers locker room, the media got the heads-up that LeBron James has been placed on the Inactive list and will miss tonight's game. James sprained his right ankle just before halftime last night in Portland, but was able to return and put together a giant fourth quarter, scoring 17 points as the Cavaliers rallied to win. Once his ankle cooled down, however, swelling and pain became more problematic. James gave it a shot, working out before the game, but decided he was unable to go.

"You don't ever want to be without him," said Cleveland Head Coach Mike Brown, who was not yet certain whether he would have James in the lineup. "It's my job to coach everybody in that locker room. And if he can't go then you've got to get somebody else ready to go."

The Cavaliers lost all four games James missed earlier this season with a sprained left index finger and had a hard time scoring. However, the team was struggling at that point of the season and has been going much better lately. James is a big part of that but certainly not the only reason the team is playing well. We'll see how Cleveland is able to replace him tonight.

Signing On
Pregame

Welcome to KeyArena, where the Sonics will host the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight in the fifth game of their seven-game homestand. The Cavaliers come into tonight on a roll, having gone 11-2 in the month of January, but the player who has led that run - MVP candidate LeBron James - is a question mark because of a sprained right ankle suffered last night in Portland. Stay tuned throughout the game as the Sonics try to cool off the Cavaliers and maintain their strong recent play.