Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Atlanta Hawks @ Seattle Sonics, 12/5

The Sonics beat the Hawks today, 102-87. Oh, and one more little detail. Ray Allen didn't play. Allen says the reason he didn't play was his "ankle", but after his comments yesterday on how the rest of the team needs to contribute to offense- because he said they could- I don't think that's likely (he was walking around just fine, too). But don't get me wrong, it was a good idea. The Sonics all proved that they could play. Here's the box score of scoring for the Sonics:
Rashard Lewis [SF]: 29 points, 10-16 FG, 3-6 3-pointers, 6-6 FT, 8 Rebounds, 4 blocks, two steals, and only ONE turnover in 41 minutes.

Chris Wilcox [PF]: 18 points, 7-16 FG, 4-6 FT, 9 rebounds (4 offensive), 2 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers in 40 minutes.Luke Ridnour [PG]: 14 points, 7-14 FG, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks, 4 turnovers in 29 minutes.

Nick Collison [PF]: 11 points, 5-11 FG, 1-3 FT, 9 rebounds (5 offensive), 3 turnovers in 35 minutes.

Earl Watson [PG]: 10 points, 5-8 FG, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 4 turnovers in 26 minutes.

Damian Wilkins [SG/SF]: 10 points, 3-5 FG, 4-4 FT, 8 rebounds (4 offensive), 4 assists, 3 steals, ZERO turnovers in 22 minutes (Wilkins started too, a rare occurence, but he showed that he earned it).

Johan Petro [C]: 8 points, 4-5 FG, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover in 12 minutes (he left the game after getting an elbow to the face from an Atlanta Hawks player, and he got called for a foul. the officials obviously got the call wrong, the replay was obvious, it took place right at the top of the key. the league will review it, and point it out to the referees from that game. it didn't turn out to make a huge difference, so I'm not extremely annoyed by it)

Desmon Farmer [G]: 2 points, 1-1 FG, in 2 minutes (the last two minutes, it was his first basket of the season)

Mickael Gelabale [SF]: 0 points, 4 rebounds, 2 turnovers in 20 minutes (but he had an important hustle play where he caught a ball going out of bounds, looked back, THEN passed it, made the pass to Petro, who kicked it out to Lewis, who drained a three-pointer)

Mouhamed Sene [C]: 0 points, 1 rebound, 3 turnovers in 7 minutes.

Mike Wilks [PG]: 0 points, 1 assist (to Desmon Farmer, who made his first shot this season)Andreas Glyniadakis [C]: 0 everything, played for only seconds.

Obviously, the one thing the Sonics need to improve on is handling the ball and not turning it over so often (23 total team turnovers). But otherwise, the Sonics proved that they could play without Ray Allen, and I am sure Ray is happy and was smiling the whole time. Of course, this is the Atlanta Hawks (now 7-9), but they weren't giving up. At least, Joe Johson wasn't. Johnson scored 34 points, including 3 3-pointers, and seemed to always start a rally whenever the Sonics were finally starting to pull away. But the lack of support from his teammates finally sunk in, and the Sonics closed out the game just fine.

The Sonics are now 8-11, 7 games behind Utah (15-4) in the Northwest Conference. But 8-11 is an improving record from last year. I just hope they keep up the momentum that they've just started. We know that the Sonics can win without Ray Allen now. Now we get to sit and watch as they win with him. I'm personally happy with how the Sonics are doing. Any comments on the team, feel free. Basic recap: Ray Allen doesn't play, 6 players on the Sonics get double-digits, Petro gets 8, and Collison and Wilcox really stick their necks out to dominate the paint. Less shots for Allen, more shots for the rest of the team.

Don't get me wrong, Allen is amazing on the drive, but his 3-point shooting this year is, frankly, terrible (averages 7.7 attempts this year, only 2.4 makes). Those long-shots that he drained time after time last year just aren't falling this year. And I'd rather see him pass it or drive to the hoop instead of shoot the three. He just doesn't have it right now, so he should just take 4 or 5 a game, but focus on driving, and creating a play in the paint with Collison, Wilcox, Petro, and Sene. They've all proven they can score, they've done what Ray asked, now Ray just has to do his part by getting them the ball, or putting up a layup or short shot that they can rebound if he misses.*for those new to basketball stats: FG= field goals (all shots except free throws)FT= free throwsTO= turnover(s) [i didn't use TO this time, but i may in the future]and positions:G= Guard (varies between SG and PG)PG= Point Guard
SG= Shooting Guard
PF= Power Forward
SF= Small Forward
C= Center

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