With Seattle taking on long-time Sonic Rashard Lewis tonight, it made me think of other events in the team’s history. Here’s a quick recap of how three legendary Sonics fared in their first games against their former team:
January 2, 2004 – Gary Payton
Payton was dealt to the Bucks in Feb. of 2003, and in a bizarre twist of fate was a member of the Bucks when they played the Sonics the next day (or was it the same day?). In any event, GP wasn’t eligible for that game, and his return had to wait until 2004, when the Sonics played the Lakers in Seattle. The Glove didn’t disappoint, rattling off a 24-5-5 effort. However, Ray Allen’s 35 points were enough to power the Sonics to a 111-109 win at the Key.
January 8, 1998 – Shawn Kemp
Kemp’s first game against the Sonics came in Cleveland, and his 9 points were a disappointment to him, I’m sure, as was the 109-84 beatdown the Sonics put on the Cavs. However, Kemp still outscored Jim McIlvaine 9-0.
February 11, 2003 – Vin Baker
You might have missed this one, but Boston’s bizarre 82-76 win against the Sonics in Seattle featured 9 points from Vinny, as well as a 7 (!) point third quarter from the victorious Celtics. An ugly game befitting Baker’s ugly tenure and departure from Seattle.
7 comments:
wow, that paragraph about Kemp is the most depressing thing I've heard in a long, long time... (including the recent Bennett bullshit)
Kemp's coming out party was that game against the Knicks in MSG when he threw down that monster dunk against Ewing. I believe he had a double-double in that game..
This Season is really starting to piss me off. I can see that Bennett had Presti hire a lame duck coach, trade away our top star, and let the other walk, and continue to put in the least effective line-up in the 4th quarter. Why is Wilkins starting and getting so many minutes? I am one of the folks who thought he should definitley be brought back but not as a damn starter, he's a role player. These guys are out there anking games on purpose to piss off the fan base and well it's been pretty effective so far. Against the Pistons Jeff Green was tearing shit up (I love that kids game by the way) and was absent for most of the 4th. delonte West has only played Crucial minutes in the 4th quarter of one game and that was against Utah and he was tearing shit up, what happened to him in the 4th against the Pistons?
The starting 5 for the supes should be as follows: (I've been watching and trust me I know my shit)
1. West
2. Durant
3. Green
4. Wilcox
5. Petro
the other cats are role players, I like collison but him and Frenchy need to split equal time, just as Ridnour and Watson can split equal time backing up D. West.
Looks like Rashard has decided to "take it up a notch" against eh Sonics tonight ... 19 points in his first 20 minutes.
It's wierd... although Rashard was on the team longer, and Ray-Ray was gotten via trade from another team for our franchise's greatest player, for some reason, I have more of a soft spot for Ray. Does that make me a bad Sonics fan?
I'm totally living vicariously through him as the Celtics torch the rest of the league.
The Payton trade was in 2003 and his return was with the Lakers in 2004. Looks like a few dates are mixed up!!
That's because Gary didn't play against the Sonics while he was with the Bucks. Milwaukee played the Sonics the day after the trade, but the trade hadn't been processed by the league yet. As a result, GP's return had to wait until the next season when he was with LA. I've fixed the story so that the date is 2004 rather than 2002.
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