Bargnani's 4-Spot

TEAM.............W...........L...........GB

Portland......... 26..........36.........—

Seattle........... 25..........38......... 1 1/2

The NBA has been around for more than 50 years now. At roughly 1,000 games a year, that's more than 50,000 basketball games, and I doubt that there have been more than 3 occurrences of a made 4-point play giving a team a 2-point lead with fewer than 30 seconds remaining.

And yet, that's what happened to the Sonics on Sunday. Ray Allen bailed Seattle out by hitting a clutch shot off his own miss with a couple of ticks on the clock - propelling the game to OT, where the Sonics, naturally, blew it - but to me, that Bargnani 3 plus the penalty was the difference.

In a way, the game was like an NCAA tournament game. Allen and Bosh trading shots, Allen hitting an off-balance 3 in the corner while on the move and seemingly falling out of bounds, Bosh going behind the back on one end and then hustling down to block Earl Watson's shot on the other ... the whole game was just nuts.

But it wasn't all bad news for this Sonic fan this weekend. Yes, it rained so much in Vancouver that Noah was seen readying an ark, and yes, the Sonics got swept by Boston and Toronto, but the Ducks took it to the Trojans in LA, won themselves a Pac-10 Tourney thanks to Bryce Taylor's unbelievable 11-for-11 performance.

Coupled with some losses in other tourneys, the Ducks were booted all the way up to a #3 seed in the Midwest, and will play their first two (let's not rush things, Pete, calm down), in Spokane, a mere 6 1/2 hours away from Vancouver. I'll miss the first game on Friday, but should the Fighting Waterfowl prevail, you can bet your Orlando Williams' commemorative jersey I'll be there on Sunday, where the Ducks' opponent could be the hated Notre Fighting Irish. Don't know about the rest of you, but in a fight I'll take a Duck over an Irishman any day of the week.