Pickin' Time

Well, apparently Vegas is on the Kings' side, as they've got Sac as a 5.5 favorite for Friday's tilt. After removing the egg from my face after a disastrous pick in game 2, I'm going to go with the Sonics to cover in game 3.

Fact is, the Kings look as played out as my Stevie Wonder "Songs in the Key of Life" album. Brad Miller is done for this season, regardless if he plays or not, Peja - healthy or not - is apparently incapable of producing in the playoffs, and all the stupid giveaways in all of Sacto aren't going to help the Kings play interior defense.

I see Ray-Ray continuing his strong run with another solid game, further improved play from Braidzilla, and some desparate "intensity" from Sacramento. Despite all of their tough talk after game 2, the Kings won't stop the Sonic rebounders because, well, they can't. Yeah, the Kings will start out hot, and they may even lead after 1 quarter, but the Sonics will overcome.

Here come da smack: Sonics 101 - Kings 97.

Inside the NBA (and Capeside)

Sorry, I just couldn’t resist

Some topics here at Supersonicsoul are just lightning rods for controversy: Luke vs. A.D., Dreads vs. Headbands, Ray Allen: superstar or soon to be super overpaid, Bizarro Jeromes: fact or mythical being… I’ve said my peace on most of these and I’ll leave it upon the smarter minds here to decide.

Some other thoughts-

-The 2 games on TNT last night went as predicted with Pheonix beating the Grizzlies 108-103 and the Spurs rebounding in a major way, blowing out the underrated, why is nobody giving us our respect, blah-blibbity-blah-blah uber-team Denver Nuggets 104-76. Please remember to get back on the wagon you started on folks, buckle your seatbelts, and await the no smoking sign to be turned off as we exit this small amount of turbulence to clearer skies ahead.

-I had to check on our neighborhood blogger Matt’s health the other day after the Spurs game 1 loss. Seriously, emotional wreck and nervous breakdown are understatements when describing his status. He’s busy on a project deadline, and actually left me a stern, jittery, slightly incoherent voicemail warning me not to call him with results of game 2 because he wasn’t gonna find out the outcome till he went home and watched the TIVO recording and didn't want me to spoil it. Please light a candle for him, he needs help…

-John Thompson during the phoenix game: speaking of defense, “I just love the way that Sonics team plays defense….” Huh?!?

-John Thompson… announcing a Phoenix game, talking about great defense, and referring to the Supes. Is this funny? May I laugh at this? (I absolutely HATE those commercials.)

-Dallas vs. Houston game 3 tonight 6:30 Pac time on TNT: I know you’re all diehard Sonics fans in here, but please do yourself a favor and get involved in this series. It’s the clear AND cream of the 1st round crop.

-Chuck, don’t listen to EJ and Kenny. Spurtability is too a word! My ex used it do describe my bedroom skills. (Gotta give them that O-face! Oh-yeah! You know what I’m talking about!)

-Oohh that Veronica! She's so arrogant, I hate her! What a b***h!

-I’ve been much too preoccupied of late analyzing the backs of my eyelids, but today I actually got up early and caught up with The Creek:

Creek updates:
-Dawson is filming a movie: it’s a rip-off of Saturday Night Fever and he’s shagging the hot lead actress.
-Pacey is sporting a wicked goatee and going out with the token hot girl with an English accent (Shouldn’t the show be giving royalties to Friends by now??)
-Holy crap! Token hot English girl’s name is Emma! Can..., I..., BEEE…, any more unoriginal?
-To give her an edge, they’ve got Joey working as a waitress in some dive bar… and she’s also banging the dark and mysterious bartender with a chip on his shoulder. Cliché’s galore folks.
-Dawson’s mom started doing acid and joined a biker gang… Just kidding. It was crystal meth…
-It’s the Christmas episode and the cast is sporting outfits 58c-64b from pages 24-26 of ye olde J. Crew catalog. How nice. Subliminal promo tie-ins. Please, just shoot me. And also get me that periwinkle blue scarf with the frolicking reindeer knitted in while you’re at it.
-Joey’s dad is apparently done serving his 5-10 for being the drug czar/crime lord of good ol’ Capeside (that premise always KILLED me) and is participating in the yuletide shenanigans.
-Huge shocker here, Dawson’s conscience forces him to drop the smoking hot actress. Young Leary must hold the record for most amount of ‘tang left untouched due to moral obligations.
-Joey’s roommate and Pacey’s ex-girlfriend came home with them; She’s apparently now an alcoholic and pill-popper and just crashed Pacey’s car into a picket fence. The new car was purchased from some illegal funds Pacey’s been obtaining. I’m trying to read between the lines but I’m still not sure if he’s now been turned into a pimp, hitman, or consigliere to some Mafia overlord.

Please note: All of the preceding occurred in just two episodes.

I’m sorry to keep on with this topic, but on a previous post I said that the wheels fell of the show sometime. Well, I was only halfway right. The wheels were actually taken off by West Coast Customz, replaced with deuce-deuce w/ Pirelli tires, they turbo-supercharged the engine, gave it a whole new cherry red paint job (with flames)… and Mad Mike threw on like fifteen 30” HDTV screens on that mutha… and a cappuccino maker.

Dawson’s Creek: Congratulations… you’ve officially been pimped.

And now back to our regular NBA/Supersonic schedule.

Sonics Fashion Corner: Slick & Twisted

They still haven't retired your jersey, Slick, and now this?!

[Somewhat off-topic but fairly time-sensitive, methinks...]

Thanks to a team policy, the world has been blessed with a swarthier, decidedly less-sexy Yugoslavian version of Bo Derek in "10":

(Radmanovic) used to wear a headband when his hair got long, but McMillan implemented a no-headband rule last year, saying yesterday: "I didn't like all the retro stuff that goes on. You play basketball. Style is for the sidelines."
That's what led to Radmanovic's first hairdo in Game 1, a homemade version designed and braided by his sister.
(Seattle P-I, 04/28)

I guess this is "one of Nate's million rules" that Danny Fortson mentioned a while back.

Nate has had well-nigh Papal Infallibility in my book all year, but I gotta draw the line here for a couple reasons:

1. What do you mean you don't like all the retro stuff that goes on, Nate? Up until the beginning of this season when you went to the Taye Diggs, your box cut was retro to 1987! You still wear your shirt tucked into your sweats! You wear booty shorts! You are as retro as they come, Coach!
2. Slick Watts, one of the greatest Sonics ever, was the man who popularized the headband! The headband is possibly the most enduring contribution to The Sport of Basketball to emerge from this franchise (c'mon, name another?), and you're telling me no one on Slick's old team can wear one? Christian-Frickin'-Laettner can rock the headband, but not, say, Flip Murray or Reggie Evans?

Hey, if the braids are working for Vlade, then more power to him. Hope he hits 10 treys on Friday and signs an endorsement deal with Avon. But any policy that inflicts us with pony tails on grown men and Venus Williams* braids on a white dude has got to go. Please. Give us headbands!

--chunkstyle23
Supersonicsoul.com Fashion Correspondent

*goodlookinout to my little bro for that one

Crazy Times

As someone who grew up in Seattle during the 80s, I am well aware of what it was like to be a Mariner fan when no one else was. M's games on September Sundays were routinely bumped from KIRO for the Seahawks, and the city had as much interest in the team as a Baptist minister does in a David Lynch film.

Well, times have changed. Believe it or not, FSN has decided that Game 3 of Sonics-Kings ranks below a meaningless April game between the A's and Mariners. That's right, the Sonics will be on KONG while the M's play out their crucial match with Oakland on FSN. With only 120 games left in the season, this could be the one that makes all the difference, right?

Keeping in mind that I was a member of the Pepsi Junior Mariners, understand me when I say that I am sick of the Mariners and wish that Safeco Field would fall into the earth, with Chuck Armstrong, Pat Gillick, and all those stupid fans inside of it. Bring me the days of 13,000 announced attendance, of Ed VandeBerg, of the Non-Alchol (sic) Section, of the Kingdome.

I return you now to your regularly scheduled Sonic talk.

James Juiced?

Did Big Game get Crunked?

According to the Seattle P.I., the mind-boggling play of Jerome James in the playoffs may be due to a new "energy drink".

Apparently, Big Game James used to drink coffee before games, but it upset his delicate constitution, so he switched to an unnamed caffeinated beverage before game one of the playoffs. The results, of course, were stunning: 17 points, 15 rebounds, and five blocks in game one; 19 points and 9 rebounds in game two.

So, what kind of magical elixer could produce such results? Here are some likely suspects (courtesy of this month's Wired):

Lil Jon's Crunk!!!
Wired: Blend of ashwagandha, horny goat weed, and caffeine really delivers. Fresh pomegranate flavor.
Tired: Get ready for a sleepless night; no wonder Lil Jon always seems so amped. WHAT!?! OK!!! YEA-YA!!!
$2, www.crunkenergydrink.com

Ice-T's Liquid Ice
Wired: Pleasantly long-lasting pick-me-up. Super sweet. Lightly carbonated. Goes well with vodka.
Tired: Tastes like a melted Otter Pop. Bright blue color not keeping it real (unless you're a Crip, of course).
$2, www.liquidiceenergydrink.com

Nelly's PimpJuice
Wired: Noncarbonated. Mellow tropical flavor. No aftertaste. Contains 10 percent actual fruit juice!
Tired: Not much pep. Packs 140 calories (20 more than Crunk!!! and 10 more than Liquid Ice).
$2, www.letitloose.com

Russell Simmons' DefCon3
Wired: Each can is filled with 10 ounces of liquid upper, versus the other brands' trifling 8. Only 45 calories per serving.
Tired: Mediciney aftertaste. Too fizzy. Yielded only a mild rush.
$2, www.defcon3.com

I don't know about you, but if a drink can make a modern day Moses out of a poor man's Benoit Benjamin, I wants me some.

Sonics whack Sac, take 2-0 lead

Not the 1-2 punch I was expecting…

Seattle 105, Sacramento 93
Sonics lead series 2-0
Next Game: Friday at Sacramento 7:30PM Pac time

Player of the game:
Let's give props to both Allen & James. Allen had 26 pts, and several shots at the end to seal the deal and Jerome.... well, I really don't know what more to say about him right now. For the 2nd straight game Bizarro Jerome showed up with these silly stats: 19pts (on 9-11 shooting) and 9 boards. His average over the two games is now 18pts, 12 boards, & 3 blocks. It was rightly mentioned by chunkstyle that foul troubles have often been the bane of his game, and for the first two games he's held himself in check on the hacking...

By the way: The TV crews at both TNT & Foxsports have been beating this news bit of Jerome James being cut by the Kings, given his clothes in a plastic bag, and coach Adelman advising him to think of a career change to death. It is an interesting tidbit, but I'm hoping they come up with something new come game 3.

Reasons to feel good:
1) There were contributions to be seen from all the guys that played minutes tonight. Aside from Reggie, who contributed with 8 boards, and Wilkins (who got in for only 1 minute) every player scored at least 8 points.

Reasons to be cautious:
1) The Kings scoring trio of Bibby, Stojakovic, and Mobley combined to shoot 14/37 for 34 points and were not even involved in the late 4th quarter Kings run. I don't know if others will see this as a good or bad thing (maybe it's neither) but the Kings stars/go to guys have not really played well as of yet in these two games. Can we really expect this to continue? From my seat, I didn't see stellar defense being the cause of this.

Fun stat of the night:
Luke Ridnour had an efficient floor general performance with 6 assists and 0 turnovers.... and 2 blocks! If you can recall seeing those blocks in the game please let me know cause those totally passed me by.

Other notes on the night:
-After game 1 Rick Adelman decided to attempt to take Lewis on the post out of the equation early, with repeated aggresive double teams that forced the ball out of Lew's hand. For the few situations where Lewis had Peja 1 on 1, he resorted to the jab step-fall back J instead of driving or backing him further in for an easy shot. This crap may be O.K. vs. the Kings but it just won't do come round 2. Lewis needs to be a little more aggresive in the post.
-Mike Dunleavy on Jerome James: "you can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him." Discuss amongst yourselves.
-During halftime Kenny "the Jet" Smith stole my material!! On Vlad's contribution to the team he mentioned the Sonics record pre & post Radman injury. Heeeyahhh!!! Now gimme some candeee!
-The officiating was horrible for the Nets vs Heat game, with a majority of the close/questionable calls going the Heat way. I hate seeing that crap happen.

I'm dying to throw some new predictions, questions on the series outcome here, but some superstitious folk may consider that bad luck... For those brave readers who don't carry around crosses and cloves of garlic, what are your thoughts? Are the Kings done? Can the Sonics s...., sw.., swe.., well you know what I'm getting at.

Supersonicsoul at SPORT!

Chunkstyle and myself will be catching the game at SPORT! tonight. Stop on by and say hi - I'll be the one slumped over on the bar wearing a Wheedle costume.

Take your pick

Vegas has the Kings at +3 for tonight's game, and yours truly thinks that that's the smart money for this here contest. Seattle had a chance to put the hammer down in game 1, didn't, nearly let the Kings come all the way back, then eked out a win. Add in Bibby's unbelievably bad game, the annual "Road Team Recovers in Game 2" that always seems to happen, and I like the Kings in this game.

My pick? Kings 102 - Sonics 95.

Now, as they say on talk radio, let's hear what our audience has to say!

Closer Look

Inevitably, the daggers will be drawn if the Sonics' performance in Game 2 matches their performance in the 2nd half of Game 1. After all, if Seattle drops a home game to the Kings, Sac takes home-court and stands to be the favorite in the series, right?

Well, that's what the experts will tell you, but they'd be wrong. They may even trot out this figure: 22-8. That's what teams that won Game 2 are in the past 2 seasons as far as winners and losers of series go (that is to say, of the 30 teams that won game 2, 22 of them won the series).

Interestingly, though, that standard doesn't hold for road teams that win game 2. In the past 4 seasons, road winners in game 2 won a meager 5 of 15 series. That's a small sample size, admittedly, but it should give Sonic fans a chance to breath easier if Seattle plays poorly in Game 2.

Of course, if Jerome James continues to impersonate Dikembe Mutumbo circa 1994, we'll have no reason to worry for the rest of the playoffs.

Savvy

I'll make this brief.

Game 1, Spurs lose to Nuggets.

Brent Barry: 2 turnovers, 0 points.

Ah, veteran savvy, you can't beat it.

Sonics win by a hair, 87-82

I passed out in the fourth - did we win?!

SEATTLE (AP) -- Ray Allen scored 28 points and Seattle center Jerome James added 17 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, leading the SuperSonics to a 87-82 win over the Sacramento Kings in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series Saturday night.

The Sonics blew a 21-point second-half lead but held on with big baskets in the closing seconds by Allen and James.

Read the rest at Yahoo!

Game One: Bring it, Fools!

The second half just started, and the Sonics are spanking the Kings 63-42. Big Game James showed up tonight (13pts, 12 boards, 5 blocks so far), and he's feasting on Sac's soft, creamy middle. Also, Radman has a new hair-do. Discuss.