Sonics just beat Heat 98-96 at Miami. Pretty impressive. Look at their record against elite teams in the league vs Miami, 1-0 vs San Antonio, 2-0 vs Sacremento, 1-0 vs Minnesota, 1-0 vs Dallas, 1-0 vs Indiana, 1-0 vs Pheonix, 0-1 That's an impressive 7-1 records vs the top teams in the league. I am going out a limb to say that they are legit contender this year due to the hand-check rule change.
i saw the sonics beat the heat and it was a great game...close throughout and heat had 3 last second opportunities to win/tie it at the end but could not convert Sonics and suns are both legit title contenders this yr...maybe houston can join that list soon
Unfortunately for the Sonics, the handcheck rule WILL go out the window during the playoffs. It always does. Watch the spurs-wolves game from this season. It was very physical. Same thing in the Lakers-Heat game on Christmas. Those were playoff atmosphere games, and the refs let them play.
KeepKenny, I disagree, the Hand check rule is here to stay, and it should be. I am so glad they started enforcing it, and now if we could just stop that stupid palming we would have the game the way it is supposed to be played. DD
If palming, carrying, and walking were correctly enforced in the NBA, US may actually have a chance to win in the Olympics.
I would be fine with them actually enforcing the rules. It's just that any time the stakes get higher, they swallow their whistles. We had the handcheck rule in the year 2000 I believe and it made no impact that I can remember in the playoffs. We'll have to wait and see, but the few meaningful, intense games so far this season have been officiated like the playoff games of old.
I saw the game last night on NBALP. It was a fun game to watch. I really liked what I saw from the Sonics. They really have good team chemistry and a great rotation off the bench. That win in Miami was very impressive! I think the KEY to the Sonics is keep them off the boards. They are a great shooting team and execute the pick 'n' roll really well which counts for a lot of their points. However the BONUS is that when they miss they have guys like Reggie Evans, Jerome James, Nick Collison and Danny Fortson to clean up all the rebounds. And that is EXACTLY what they did against the Heat last night! They KILLED the Heat on the boards. Evans and Fortson in particular are VERY ACTIVE under there. They get the Sonics so many 2nd opportunities that with their great shooting it really kills the other team. They have a nice mix of players. They have their 2 star players in Allen and Lewis and a PG in Ridnour that will get them the ball and run the break. Added into the starting lineup with those guys are two lunch pail guys in Evans and Jerome James. Solid role players. Then it gets even better with the bench. They have a top quality 6th man in Vlad Radmonovich to supply points. They have a solid PG in Antonio Daniels that is the NBA's best in A/T ratio. They have two great energy rebounders in Collison and Fortson. And they even have Flip Murray, a great scoring guard, rotting on the bench because they dont have enough time to give him! The team has all the right parts and chemistry right now. They are clicking!
