Praise the Lord and pass the Crunk——the Sonics actually won a game today, beating the Toronto Raptors 126-121 in overtime. Of course, they blew an 18-point lead in the fourth to the worst team in the league, but losers can't be choosers so we'll take what we can get! Here are some things that immediately leap from the box score:- Lewis was obviously the star today, scoring 41 points, but check out the free throws: 14-16! Does this mean Shard is finally going to be more aggressive and start playing with some passion, or is it just another Derrick McKey-like tease? Only time will tell.
- After being benched for two games, Petro Power not only started, but had his best NBA game so far, grabbing 10 boards in 38 minutes. Nice job, Le Pew!
- Look who didn't suck today: Flip Murray! 15 points in 29 minutes is exactly the kind of performance we need from Flipper. (Of course, he had three turnovers, but hey, Ray-Ray had six and you don't hear me squawking!)
- Look who barely played: (Not so) Radman! Despite the extra quarter, the rat-tailed one only played 13 minutes. Guess who's going to be bitching to his agent tonight?
(P.S. It's been brought to my attention that I forgot to mention Nick "Caveman" Collison's excellent game (20pts, 10 boards). As usual, Ni-Co's no-frills brilliance flew under my radar—sorry Nick!)
20 comments:
This was an awful win, as neither team deserved the victory; both clubs played like crap.
1-6 from the field, 1-6 from the line . . . hey, at least the rook is consistent!
Supes will be this year's Nugs, they started out crappy too. we have too much talent to suck.
DENVER vs. SEATTLE
Marcus Camby > Johan Petro
Maybyner "Nenê" Hilario* > Vitaly Potapenko
Francisco Elson > Mikki Moore
Kenyon Martin > Nick Collison
Eduardo Najera > Reggie Evans
Linas Kleiza < Danny Fortson
Carmelo Anthony > Rashard Lewis
DerMarr Johnson < Vladimir Radmanovic
Bryon Russell < Damien Wilkins
Voshon Lenard < Ray Allen
Greg Buckner < Ronald "Flip" Murray
Julius Hodge = Robert Swift
Andre Miller > Luke Ridnour
Earl Boykins > Rick Brunson
Earl Watson > Mateen Cleaves
The Denver Nuggets, to put it bluntly, are better than the Seattle Supersonics.
*Although "Nenê" is injured, I would still rather have him on my team instead of Potapenko.
You forgot the most important one, AK:
Karl>Weiss
Still, any win is a good win at this point. As painful as the past week has been, maybe Weiss has indeed finally found his magic rotation.
(Magic rotation totally sounds dirty.)
I think Ray Allen is one of the top-10 players in the NBA; he is the franchise's savior.
thank you, Lord, for that win! *jumps up and down* THANK YOU!
Come on, no love for Collison? 20 and 12? Keep that man in the starting lineup the rest of the way!
Mateo, I think you're dead on right. It's kind of a shame that somewhere along the line no one taught AK how to read.
I think we very well could have growing pains for a good portion of the early part of the year, only to catch fire later on and make a run to the playoffs.
Seattle's going to have to get used to running with Petro on the court and Nick's going to have to stay out of foul trouble.
At this point there is no such thing as a bad win, when you've been blown out three games in a row winning is all that matters.
Sorry Zach—I totally forgot about Caveman Collison. Please see the P.S. on the original story.
Oh, and I agree with both Zach and Anon—Petro and Nick should be starters from here on out. Let the kids play!
I hope the Collison experiment starting at the 4 lasts longer than a game or two. Let's see how things look with a little continuity with the starting 5.
Well with the current rules (since the NBA did away with the injured list), teams can take guys off and on the inactive list before every game. Thus, it probably just means that they don't think they'll need Cleaves much against the Nets. Besides, they need to find out what they've got in Swift sooner rather than later.
i see that Isiah is already shopping JJ. can i just say...i love this game. Thomas is an idiot and there is no other GM in the game who will take that rediculious contract and that overweight slacker off his hands. i knew this was coming i just didn't realize it would be 4 games into his $30M contract. JJ is one lucky SOB, and Thomas is just plain dumb!
Don't know if anyone else heard about this, but Nate Robinson got into a scuffle with JJ recently during practice.
I say forget Tonya Harding; give us JJ vs the Nate Dog!
Why does everyone want Nate Robinson? He's a 5'9" shooting guard in the body of a point guard. In the end, ultimately, he'll likely have a career similar to that of Anthony "Spud" Webb—which means he'll be an overrated third-guard/seventh-man.
Hell, I wouldn't touch a damn player -- including Robinson, Channing Frye, David Lee, Trevor Ariza, Jackie Butler, et al. -- on the New York Knicks roster; besides, their roster doesn't have many players with comperable salaries to guys on the Seattle Supersonics.
Anyway, there is no need to trade Vladimir Radmanovic -- which, mind you, is not likely to happen due to the rules within the Collective Bargaining Agreement -- as he can just play out the year in Seattle and sing elsewhere come next off-season.
Ever since the day Robert Swift was drafted, I stated that he -- unlike Al Jefferson, who I had wished was selected -- was going to be a colossal bust; I stand by that belief to this day. Why does anyone even think he is going to develop into a decent role player -- much less a starter, star, or superstar -- in the NBA? Why does the front office personnel of an NBA franchise not properly scout a player that they select with a first-round draft pick? It was a flat-out stupid decision.
No matter Jerome James, Ibrahim "Ibo" Kutluay deserves every penny of the $3,360,000 that Howard Schultz pays him.
Okay, without a doubt, the comments regarding Robert Swift included some flat-out amusing stuff; it is one of the best posts to ever be written on this website.
Anyway, on that same note, it's somewhat hilarious that Chris Anderson, Brian Scalabrine, Mark Madsen, and Matt Bonner were all signed to multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts this past off-season, even though they are all -- with the exception of Anderson -- undeniably awful players.
Likewise, Dan Dickau and Steve Blake each received multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts this past off-season, even though they, too, are both undeniably awful players.
In addition, Kyle Korver was re-signed by the Philadelphia 76ers to a six-year, $20+ million contract this off-season, and has started all seven games this year for the 'sixers while averaging 32.7 minutes per contest—even though he is nothing more than a clone of Craig Ehlo (i.e., a spot-shooting swingman whose offensive game is located solely beyond the arc and defensive game is non-existant).
Lastly, with regards to Swift, I find it odd that nearly everyone here gives him a free pass concerning his inability to play at an NBA level, while most fans of the Toronto Raptors constantly hate on Rafael Araujo.
Gee, one guy was drafted 8th overall with the notion that he'd be able to step in and play right away. The ohter was taken and the fans were told from the begining that he's 2-3 years away from being ready.
I wonder which one of these two is getting hated on considering to this point they both suck.
The other thing is we haven't actually really seen much of Swift (at least not like Raptors fans have seen Araujo). Also, when was the last time you met a Raptors fan? I kinda thought they were like unicorns...
That's another thing I miss about the Grizzlies leaving Vancouver - the annual "T-Dot versus Van City" hype-a-thon (yes, those are the actual nicknames for Toronto and Vancouver; not satisfied with sucking at music, Canadians have now branched out into sucking at nicknames).
In all seriousness, Toronto fans have really gotten the shaft from the NBA. From Isaiah to Vince Carter, from Kenny Anderson to Alonzo Mourning, and let's not forget Babcock's promise that his team wouldn't be any good this year, the Raptor fan can be forgiven for wondering what time the Maple Leafs are on tv.
Oh, and what the heck is the deal with a purple and pink logo? Was orange and maroon already taken?
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