Kevin Pelton, SUPERSONICS.COM | May 10, 2005
SAN ANTONIO - The Seattle SuperSonics got All-Star guard
Ray Allen back in the lineup, but that wasn't enough to produce a victory in Game 2 of their Western Conference Semifinals series against the San Antonio Spurs.
Allen, a game-time decision because of a sprained right ankle, ended up playing 42 minutes and led the Sonics with 25 points, shooting 6-for-14 from the field. However, Allen started slowly and his team followed suit, falling behind by 12 points after one quarter. While the Sonics were in striking distance throughout the second half, they never trailed by less than nine points after halftime.
"Once I know I'm suiting up, I'm ready to give it my all," Allen told reporters after the game. "Everything I have in my tank, I have to give it. Me sitting on the bench, I'm not helping this team out at all.
"I'm telling my teammates and my coaches, 'I'm out here for you guys. Use me as you see fit.'"
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"You turn it over and Manu's gone, Tony's gone."
Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty
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Allen said he felt less than 100% physically, but, "70, 75% is good enough for me." He did not feel limited at the offensive end of the court, though chasing Spurs guards around screens proved difficult.
After the game, several Sonics pointed to turnovers as key to the defeat. The Sonics turned it over 17 times, the Spurs turning those miscues into 22 fast-break points.
"You turn it over and 
Manu (Ginobili)'s gone, Tony (Parker)'s gone," said 
Antonio Daniels. "Those guys are creators. A big thing we need to focus on is, when we have numbers, taking advantage of them and not turning the ball over."
Guards Ginobili (28) and Parker (22) were joined by forward Tim Duncan (25) to give the Spurs three players scoring 20 or more points. Sonics forward 
Nick Collison said that was because of what the Sonics did, or didn't do in terms of taking care of the basketball.
"That will help us a lot if we quit turning the ball over, because that's going to lead to transition on the other end," said Collison. "You're playing from behind the whole time."
The Sonics backcourt of Allen and 
Luke Ridnour also argued that the Sonics need to push the tempo themselves to revive an offense that mustered only 16 points in the first quarter and has scored only 172 points in the first two games of this series after scoring 237 in the last two games against Sacramento.
"We're not getting those quick transition buckets like we were," said Ridnour. "That's what we're best out - for everyone, not just myself - getting out in the open court and making things happen. We haven't been able to do that here."
"When we try to execute halfcourt, they can figure that out," said Allen. "They know our plays. Running, getting the ball up - let's get a little wild and crazy. That's what we have to do if we want to try to beat this team."
Getting the transition opportunities they covet starts for the Sonics at the defensive end of the court, where they need to clamp down on San Antonio. The Spurs shot 52.8% from the field, their second consecutive game above 50%. As a result, even when the Sonics offense picked up in the final two and a half quarters, powered by Allen, 
Rashard Lewis (22 points) and Daniels (16 points), the Sonics struggled to cut into San Antonio's lead.
"We got off to a bad start, went down 12, and then we kind of stayed there the whole game," said Collison. "We cut it to nine and then we couldn't get a stop. If we could have gotten a couple more stops, it might have been a different game. We turned it over too much and took bad shots when we needed a bucket and couldn't get a stop when we needed a stop."
The Sonics return home for Games 3 and 4 of this series Thursday and Sunday at KeyArena, and they remain confident they will find the answers they need to get even with San Antonio.
"We just need to keep playing," said Lewis. "We don't have time to rest right now. If we rest, we're going to really fall out of rhythm. We're not in a good rhythm right now, so we've got to go back to Seattle and talk about what we need to do tomorrow and get ready to play on Thursday."
"We'll go on the plane and talk about what we think went wrong," said Allen. "We'll see each other tomorrow. This team has always handled losing pretty well, so we'll respond to this and go home and give our fans a good show."
