Postgame Quotes/Notes - Sacramento 123, Sonics 104
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TONIGHT'S NOTES
  • The Kings snapped a season-long five-game losing streak and a three-game road losing streak.
  • The Sonics lost their second straight at KeyArena.
  • The teams have split the first two games of the season series, both played in Seattle. Sacramento snapped a three-game losing streak at KeyArena.
  • Leading by five at the break, the Kings outscored the Sonics 30-13 in the third quarter, shooting 11-for-16 in the period (68.8%).
  • Sacramento went on runs of 10-1 and 13-2 in the third.
  • Ray Allen led the Sonics with 24 points, shooting 8-for-11 on two-point attempts.
  • Damien Wilkins (10 points) tied his season high scored double-figures for the second time this season. Wilkins also pulled down a season-high six rebounds.
  • Mikki Moore's seven points surpassed his previous season total (six).
  • Bonzi Wells scored a season-high 31 points, shooting 13-for-22 from the field.
  • Peja Stojakovic (2w3) scored 20+ points for the first time since Sacramento's last visit to Seattle (Nov. 20), a six-game stretch.
  • Brad Miller (15 points, 10 assists) recorded his sixth double-double, third of the point-assist variety.
  • The Kings 123 points were a season high, as was their 58.1% shooting.
  • Sacramento handed out 30+ assists (30) for the second time this season.
  • The Sonics are 0-4 this season when attempting to move above .500.
  • The Sacramento bench totaled just 13 points.
  • All five Kings starters scored at least 15 points.
  • The Sonics did not commit a turnover in the fourth quarter.
  • December 10, 2005

    SONICS COACH BOB WEISS:


    On the game:
    We gave them a lot of confidence tonight. We gave them too many cutters. Bonzi Wells was constantly finding the free spots underneath the rim - four offensive rebounds for him in the first half. And when you do that, you create easy buckets, you set a pace for yourself and gave them confidence from the outside. We only gave up 44 points in the paint, but the ones we gave them early really fed their confidence and then they started shooting the ball well from the outside. We also came out flat in the third quarter, couldn’t get anything going. We were running in mud all night. We’ve won four out of the last six but we feel like we lost them all.

    On substituting for all five of his starters in the third quarter:
    We were just flat as anything. We were not getting anything done and I pulled them out and sometimes that will work for you and sometimes it doesn’t. Tonight it didn’t. I was just trying to get a little spark and energy from the second group, because I felt if they could have held their own or chipped away a little bit we could put the starters back in. Sometimes that will revitalize you.

    On the Kings:
    This is a different kind of ballclub. You’ve got to honor their outside shot so much they can create mismatches and start going to the hoop on us. I don’t know if our weak-side defense was too aware of their outside shooters, but for some reason we weren’t getting it covered. Tonight we didn’t have the zone defense to fall back on, because they still had the outside shooting.

    CENTER NICK COLLISON:


    On the game:
    Sacramento played really well. They hit a lot of shots and defensively we didn’t play very well. Offensively, we couldn’t find it tonight. We weren’t getting open looks - the shots we made were tough and they got easy ones. I’ll have to watch the tape because I’m not exactly sure what it was. Obviously it wasn’t very good.

    On the mass substitution:
    We weren’t playing very well. It was somewhat surprising because he’s never done that before. The second group has been great all year, so it wasn’t a bad idea. Sacramento kept playing well.

    CENTER MIKKI MOORE:


    On the game:
    Sometimes you just have bad nights. Tonight, we were reacting real slow. We were a step behind them and they were hitting everything they were putting up. They came in determined because they’d lost five games in a row - not that our effort was worse than theirs, but we didn’t stop them at one thing. We tried to stop everything tonight. We tried to stop the outside shot, we tried to stop the penetration, but you can’t stop both because you’ve got to give up something. They made sure they got a basket every time down the court. We just didn’t have anything for them.

    SACRAMENTO HEAD COACH RICK ADELMAN:


    On the game:
    We played well. Our concentration was good, you know, offensively we played so well and just moved the ball and found people. When you get 30 assists and ten turnovers, you are doing a good job. But I just thought the way we started the third quarter was huge and we wanted to come out and start the third quarter and finish off the way we finished the second. We were able to do that and still, it’s a scary team, they cut it down to 17 a couple times and we had to make sure we maintained it. It’s a big win, obviously, for us.

    On the run at the start of the third quarter:
    That’s what we talked about at halftime, getting the first run of the third quarter. We tried to get the lead, and you know, Bonzi was terrific the whole game. But Shareef (Abdur-Rahim) had a great second half, Peja (Stojakovic) had a … everybody was solid. Everybody in the starting lineup and the guys off the bench. You just have to find a way now to respond tomorrow and build on this before we go on that trip.

    On his message to the team over the last two days:
    I told them they had to find a way to turn all the negativity into a positive approach for this game. And that’s what they did. They came out, they were resilient tonight. They felt the more the game went on, the more confident we got. Now we will see if we can maintain it.

    On Wells:
    He was terrific and he made huge shots tonight when they had cut it to 17 a couple of times and 16. He made big jumpers. But again, we were finding the right person. We were moving the ball and finding people.

    On adjusting from the last matchup with the Sonics:
    I don’t think we made any adjustments. We had the same game plan. I think we were a little bit more aware of what we were trying to do and what they like to do. We got off to a good start and scored right off the bat to start the third quarter, I think our energy level went up. But, you know, with that team you've got to try and beware of (Ray) Allen and got to try to be aware of (Rashard) Lewis. They have hurt us in the past with the transition defense and they have hurt us on the boards. And I thought we did a nice job on the boards.

    On similarities between the two teams:
    Our team is a little bit like theirs, I mean very good offensively but they struggle defensively. We just wanted to try and contain them and stay up on Allen on long shots and Lewis on long shots and make the other guys shoot the ball.

    GUARD BONZI WELLS:


    On the game:
    You don’t want to lose. We have been trying to get off the slide the last whatever games. We really needed this, especially on the road and whenever you get some road kill like we like to call it, it’s always good and special but it doesn’t mean nothing if we go home and lose to New Orleans tomorrow.

    On Allen and Lewis:
    They still got 20. They almost got their averages and those guys are tough to stop because they are the focal point on their team. We didn’t want the other guys to come in and hurt us like the (Vlade) Radmanovics and Flip Murray and those types of guys who have been scoring a lot of points for them.

    2005-06 Postgame Quotes/Notes Archive