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TONIGHT'S NOTES |
Vladimir Radmanovic came off the bench to score 19 points for the Sonics. He hit 5-of-8 from beyond the arc, the eighth time this season he has hit five or more 3-pointers in a game. Radmanovic averaged 21.0 points in the two games against the Cavaliers.
Ray Allen led the Sonics in scoring for the 29th time, finishing with 31 points. He has scored 30 or more points on 12 occasions this season. Allen averaged 29.0 points in two games against the Cavaliers this season.
The Sonics 10 3-point field goals tied for the second most by a Cavaliers opponent this season.
Rashard Lewis scored 20 points, the 30th time he scored 20 or more points.
The SuperSonics have the second best road record in the league (20-8), trailing only Phoenix (23-7).
The SuperSonics bench outscored the Cavaliers bench 37-8.
The SuperSonics are 10-0 when they shoot 50.0% or better.
LeBron James tied a career high with five 3-point field goals in the game, going 5-7 from beyond the arc on his way to 32 points. He hit 5 3-pointers at Philadelphia on 12/19/2003. He led the Cavaliers in scoring for the 40th time this season. James also grabbed five rebounds and handed out five assists.
LeBron James averaged 33.5 points and 8.0 assists in two games against the Sonics this season. He hit 8-14 3-pointers in these two games.
Jiri Welsch, acquired a trade with Boston last Thursday, played in his second game for the Cavaliers after missing the previous two with a right quad contusion. Welsch finished the game with two points, three rebounds and one assist in 24 minutes of action.
Jeff McInnis scored 16 points and handed out seven assists. McInnis has averaged 17.7 points over his last three games.
The Cavaliers starting frontcourt outscored the Sonics starting frontcourt 59-26.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 17 points to go with six rebounds and two blocks. Over the last sixteen games, he is averaging 22.5 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.8 blocks
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March 2, 2005
SONICS COACH 
NATE MCMILLAN:
On 
Vladimir Radmanovic's performance:
The one thing I talked to him about was that anytime your shot is not falling, you can defend. And, for him, as long as he works on the defensive end of the floor, I’m going to keep him out there because I feel like he will eventually get his rhythm. The fact that he can shoot the ball, he’s a threat and it just opens up our offense. I can’t keep him out there if he’s not defending and his shot is not falling. That’s what I told him, just work on defense, your shot will come. Tonight and last night, it seems like he is getting his rhythm back and we need his play coming off bench.
On the Sonics:
I felt we had a better rhythm and a rhythm we haven’t seen it seemed in a few weeks. But we have had a number of guys shooting the ball well. We stroked the ball tonight. When we have a number of guys shooting the ball and then our bigs attacking the boards, we’re tough to beat. It was nice to see all these guys shoot the ball well in the same game.
On the adjustments the coaching staff made:
I thought they tried to take away the perimeter game,. but we were able to free up some guys and knock down some shots. We did go inside some to 
Jerome (James) and 
Rashard (Lewis), but Vlade had a hot hand and 
Ray (Allen) had his eye tonight and 
Luke (Ridnour) made some shots and really, you have a lot to defend. We have that many guys shooting the ball well.
On defending LeBron James:
We know he can hit the shot. We would much rather have him shooting the ball with a hand in his face as opposed to in the paint and getting to the free throw line, penetrating and getting everybody else involved. I thought we did a good job of forcing him out, but we needed to get our hands up. He made some shots from the outside and if you’re going to give up anything, you give up that.
On the Sonics 3-point shooting:
Tonight, I think it was rhythm. We had some guys that knocked down shots that we haven’t been hitting the last couple games. That puts a lot of pressure on the defense when you have to defend the paint and the 3-pointline.
GUARD RAY ALLEN:
On the Sonics energy:
We like to think the first game on the road at Milwaukee was due to our geographical location. The travel bug got us on that one and we were non-existent. Playing at Indiana last night, we got back on the horse and rode it out. Tonight, we just made sure how the game started, we kept simple, made the right play, made the right pass and played defense. Those are the ingredients for giving yourself a chance to win.
On stopping the Cavaliers stars and forcing other players to beat them:
That’s your introduction into asking me what I’m going to do this summer, huh? I see the way that works. I don’t look at it that way. I respect all of the guys that play, but I think they (Cavaliers) all have to make a concerted effort at trying to get that ball moving.
FORWARD VLADIMIR RADMANOVIC:
On his 3-point shooting:
I’ve been struggling with my shot the last couple of weeks. I’ve had a wrist injury, so it’s not completely healed yet, but I’m just trying to get back in the game and do my thing. There’s not much you can do - treatments, ice - but when you get in the game, nobody can help you. The only thing you can do is keep shooting. That’s what I do on the floor, that’s my biggest weapon.
On sweeping the back-to-back:
It’s a great feeling. We’ve been playing well on the road this year and that’s probably one of the keys to our success. We lost at Milwaukee a couple of days ago, but we don’t let it get into our minds and mess us up. We know what we can do when we’re playing good basketball. That’s what we did the last two games.
On the Sonics 3-point shooting against the Cavaliers:
I think our pick-and-roll offense is something they don’t defend very good. So, either the roll guy or the guy that’s popping out on the three-point line, is going to be open. Fortunately for us, that 3-point shot was going in for us tonight and it’s really hard to stop us when we have both things going on.
CLEVELAND COACH PAUL SILAS:
On the turning point in the game:
We had the ball tied at sixty-seven and we have a wide open look and turned it over. That caused a four-point swing and we never recovered from there. But it’s just a rough time for us right now. With the roster as it is, playing a good team, we had no answers.
On Cleveland's 16 turnovers:
Costly turnovers. They made a lot of good shots. They really shot the ball well. But we’ve got to find a way to turn this thing around.
On the Sonics 27-point bench advantage:
Well it’s a tough time for us all right now. I can’t fault my bench. They brought me through a lot of tough times. We don’t have all of our bench. Andy’s (Varejao) not there, Lucious (Harris) wasn’t there tonight. (I was) trying to work Jiri (Welsch) in. It’s not the best of times for us but we’ve got to pick it up. The guys are ok. They’re not down and I’m not going to let them get down. We’ve got to fight through this thing. As I told them, ‘The character of a man is when things are tough,’ and they’re really tough for us right now.
On Welsch:
Well he’s going to have to work himself in. He’s still trying to find his way. It wasn’t great tonight but I don’t expect it to be right now. But in time as thing unfolds I think he’s going to be great for us. But it’s going to take some time.
On what a win would mean to the Cavaliers:
We need a win. We need to win bad. We’ve just got to go down to Philly and get one. That’s the thing that will cure us right now. It’s a rough time. Not having Lucious was tough for us tonight, too. It’s just a time in the season where all these things are happening when you need all your horses and we don’t have them. But having said that, the guys that I do have got to come through for us.
On the Sonics 3-point shooting:
We got a lot of open looks. They’re going to get open looks. It’s hard to guard a three point shooting team. If they’re making 3s and knocking them down, they’re going to get open. A couple of times we were right in their faces and they made them. I can’t fault the guys’ effort. I thought we played hard.
GUARD LEBRON JAMES:
On the turning point:
The Sonics run at the end of the third quarter was big. You come so far back, and then they make a run like that. Vladimir made a big shot at the end of the third. It’s hard to comeback from.
On the Cavaliers losing four of five after the All-Star break:
We are disappointed, but every team has what we are going through right now. We are going to keep our heads up and try to play basketball. The good thing is that we are still in the playoff hunt and we just have to turn it around.
On defending the Sonics:
They are one of the toughest teams to guard in the NBA by far. They got guys that can just spread the defense, and they have guys that can take it off the dribble too. Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, and Vladimir Radmanovic can shoot the ball off the dribble, and post up. They are multi-dimensional. That really helps them.
On staying upbeat:
We had rougher times than this last year. We have been through it already. It’s only my second season, so I know about losing. I don’t want to know about losing. It’s not wearing on me at all. Right now we are in the playoff race. The difference this year is that there are teams chasing us. Last year we were chasing teams. Every time a team comes in they want to beat us. We are one of the top teams in the league, so they want to beat us. We need to turn it around.
CENTER ROBERT TRAYLOR:
On the game:
We probably did have a better group of players on the inside, but when you have guys that can shot the ball like they are shooting the ball - 10-for-17, 11-for-18 - it is tough to overcome. They shot the ball well. Ray Allen made a lot of big plays, Vladimir came off the bench and he played great for them. It’s tough to win games like that.
2004-05 Postgame Quotes/Notes Archive
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