They also gave up 39 to Duncan. In the playoffs and later in the season, when you have to slow it down, they'll be exposed if they continue to guard the top guys like that. Teams reliant on the 3 as much as Seattle is also tend to die by the 3 -- and averages say they'll cool off sooner or later. They have a good team, but they aren't this good.
MfClark, Not if the referees continue to call the hand check fouls. I like how the games are being called and teams are opening up from the outside and the midrange. Much better ball to watch. DD
I think this is the second time they have beaten the Spurs. They also have wins over the Kings and T-wolves. They are for real.
Definitely the hand check fouls put the game into the hands of the guards instead of the big men. Duncan is just awesome. Of course he had plenty of experience playing against zones in his 4 years of college so he handles them pretty well, but with the new hand check rules the guards are getting to the line much more and who would you rather have shooting FT's? Your small guards or your big forwards and centers. Granted Seattle did get a bit beefier in the middle with colison back and forston in the thick of things but that just gives a good shooting team more chances to shoot on the offensive end and also allows them to fast break easier off the defensive end. Damn you rockets! learn how to rebound!! Though we don't have the shooters anyway.
The sad part of all this is that any of two teams will wipe the floor with Rockets easily. It's not even going to be close. The only team Rockets can beat are the likes of Philly and Hornets, barely. Sonics may score more points in three quarters than Rockets in a full game. Spurs is not a team that plays bad defense either.
Ray Allen is stepping up his game and being a leader. I think he's underrated and people just think of him as a shooter. He obviously is doing more cause the Sonics are consistently winning without an amazing lineup.
They were also blown out by the Celtics when their perimeter game was off. Some of their players have quick releases on their shot, but if a team defends their shots well enough, they're in trouble.
i think they and the suns are somewhat like the nets of a couple of years ago. Fast playing team, but with not much of a half court defense, and no inside game. I think they will not come far in the play-offs. But i also never tought they would play so good this year. so we will see
These guys are doing it in the half-court, running slower sets and sometimes taking 20 seconds off the shot clock. Phoenix runs and scores, Seattle just scores.
SSHHEESSH It is no big Deal The Rockets Will beat San Antonio tonite Rocket River NO I AM NOT JOKING!!
thacabbage, I was about to start a thread like this myself. I will admit, when Seattle went on it's early run I thought they would soon come back to the pack. But I have a feeling the Sonics are making the playoffs this year. I am not sure how much damage they will do, but they will get in. And with Seattle and Phoenix getting in it is going to make it just that much MORE difficult for the Rockets to get in. The Rockets at BEST are probably battling for the 7th and 8th seed with Denver, Utah, BOTH LA teams and Memphis! As for Seattle, their chemistry is great. And their BENCH in particular is making some noise. Radmanovich, Daniels, Collison and Fortson are KEY to that team coming off the bench. They have a nice mix! And their bench doesnt even include Ronald Flip Murray yet! This is Ray Allen's contract year and he is playing out of this world. The Sonics are going to be in an interesting situation with renewing Allen's contract. Ditto with what they are going to do with Radmanovich. Nevertheless, the Sonics are playing some serious ball. And it is not all 3pt shooting either. This team is REBOUNDING as well! The Booth for Fortson trade was HUGE for Seattle!
How disappointing for us since we were hoping to get some of Seattle's shooters at some point. All last year we were clamoring for RAllen since he would be the best fit at SG for us.. outside shooting 3pt specialist. He is also showing tremendous leadership and keeping his guys in line. ADaniels is also playing well and would have been awesome with the Rox.. man its killing me watching teams with so much good outside shooting like the Sonics Celtics Dallas Kings when we dont have any.. we keep talking about how you need a good big man to go far in the playoffs but the Nets went to the Finals a few times in a row. We need some outside shooting and should move some of our defensive hustle guys for more shooting in my opinion. Alot of teams are just packing it inside and making teams shoot J
On the road to a 50 win season, Seattle and Phoenix only need to go 34-29 the rest of the way (currently on pace for an unlikely 69-13 season) San Antonio 34-28 (early pace for an unlikely 66-16) Sacramento 37-27 (early pace for 59-23) Minnesota 38-26 (early pace for 55-27) Rockets 42-21 (um.....we'll just say that they need to turn things around) Evan
True outside shooting teams run hot and cold but impressed with the hustle and strategy of this Sonics team. Nate said "you know what since we dont have a post player lets focus on our strengths outside shooting" pack the paint with our zone and make other teams shoot over us (hiding their weakness) one thing about JVG that irks me is openly discusses our weaknesses and then bam the next team tries to exploit it. J
For me, it's that he doesn't do what Nate did - play to the team's strengths. Making your No 1 (and 2?) offensive options hold back so you can try and force Yao to become a dominant force in the middle has cost this team more than several games. Evan
I think it's because Nate has years of failure under his belt that he's willing to adjust. JVG's been stuck with the stigma of "oh, I'll take an underachieving team in the regular season to the FINALS." Therefore, he thinks his way is the right way and completely unwilling to adjust his gameplan because it's worked before. Seattle may not be a good playoff team, but I do think they'll surprise people. They have a lot of fouls to give in the frontcourt (Fortson, James, Evans, Collison, etc). Plus, their big men are pretty good shooters, not just from the field but also from the foul line (Fortson and Collison are, at least). Although it's easy to write them off and say "oh, they're just the next Grizzlies...4 and out in the playoffs", I think they'll hold their own. They've won some games where they weren't shooting lights out and that's got to build on their confidence. Plus, they have enough players where any given person besides Rashard and Ray will step up on any given night (Fortson, Daniels, Ridnour even). These early season wins will build their confidence. They won't reach the 60 win season, but they will be very tough to beat. The typical Seattle slump won't be nearly as prolonged this year, IMHO.
