As I predicted, the Bulls played well in the first half last night. Unfortunately, my expectation that the Sonics would recover to win in the second half proved to be sorely wrong.
In the good news department, Robert Swift returned from injury, and managed to can two baskets in limited action. In the bad news, Jeff Green continues to sit out, nursing his sore left ankle.
In an interesting twist, Earl Watson was benched for the entire fourth quarter in favor of Luke Ridnour, and that turned out to be the only quarter the Sonics didn't lose. Their combined stats of 21 points and 12 assists certainly looked good in the boxscore, though.
But the key to the game was twofold, really. 1) the Bulls killed the Sonics on the boards and 2) the Sonics did not come ready to play defense. When you give up 118 points to this Chicago team, you're not working as hard as you can, and that was plainly evident last night.
I think you jinxed them, man.
ReplyDeleteI might have been the jinx. I watched the game with my 4.5 year old son, who naturally wanted to leave as soon as his ice cream was gone (mid-3rd quarter). I'm sure if we had stayed, the Supes would have pulled through for consecutive win #4.
ReplyDeleteIn an interesting twist, Earl Watson was benched for the entire fourth quarter in favor of Luke Ridnour, and that turned out to be the only quarter the Sonics didn't lose.
ReplyDeleteWhen you start the 4th quarter down ten and end up losing the game by ten, it's hard to say they didn't lose anything. It would've been nice to see the Sonics make some headway against the Bulls bench that was playing the majority of the 4th.