It's pickin' time for Game 4!

The folks at ARCO arena have the prescription to Rashard’s fever… More Cowbell!!!".

Before reading any further please read this link.

Alright. It’s funny what a 1st lost game on a road trip may do to expectations. From dreams of a possible Kings sweep & of unleashing the monster that be Jerome James to the rest of the unsuspecting playoff teams to now contemplating a potential 1st round exit…

To start with, I always felt the following:
-Sonics at full strength vs. Kings full strength would result in Seattle advancing in 7 (or 6)
-Sonics weakened (i.e. Lewis & A.D. injured to partially effective) vs. Kings weakened (i.e. 2 of Peja, Miller, B-Jax trio injured to partially effective) would result in Seattle advancing in 7 (or 6)
-Sonics with a gimpy Lewis & A.D. vs. Kings full strength would result in Kings in 7 (or 6)
Updated:
-Sonics full strength w/Bizarro Jerome: 2nd round, taking the Spurs to 6 games (or 7) and with EVERYONE playing at their absolute peak, possibly winning the ‘ship.

That said, the Rashard injury/absence to me is the single most dominating series/playoffs subplot for the Sonics. From the Seattle Times :

Lewis declined to answer questions after the game, but he was asked if he was OK physically and nodded.

It is in the volume speaking absence of words that Rashard showed after that demoralizing game 3 loss that I took the most solace in.

That folks, sounds like someone who feels like he has a gargantuan chip on his shoulder... Someone who has a hunger for nothing short of redemption in game 4… Peja & Co. beware...

Rashard Lewis has a fever, and the only prescription is MORE COWBELL!! And since they’re still in the bell-clanging friendly confines of ARCO arena, in the immortal words of generic baseball broadcasters everywhere: Let’s play two!

Prediction:
Kings yet again perform admirably with the backing of the homecourt crowd, but…
Sonics bounce back with overall inspired play & Lewis comes back in a major way & combines with Ray Allen to score 60+ points min. Result?
Seattle 113 - Sacramento 108

It's pickin' time yet again folks... You make the call, what's the game 4 outcome? The prize: free soup for you!

Oh yeah, and there’s this fun little tidbit:

"And Evans -- you talk about Vlade [Divac] being a flopper? This guy is taking it to a whole new level. He goes down when the air conditioning comes on.
"They're doing their jobs, but I think there's times when they go overboard, and I think the officials should be aware of that."

-Adelman on the atrocious officiating and ridiculous flopping job done by the opposing team in the Sacramento-Seattle series. I’m Crash Davis, letting you, the loyal reader/batter, know that a fastball is coming up straight down the middle… Please, take this present, and hit it out of the park. And please don't go disrespecting my pitcher by lollygagging before running the bases...

Kings refuel at Arco, take Game 3

Bibby taking it to the Sonics

Sacramento 116, Seattle 104
Sonics lead series 2-1
Next Game: Sunday at Sacramento 7:30PM Pac time

Player(s) of the game:
Mike Bibby and the Elbow (see below) Brothers: Kenny Thomas & Brad Miller. Final numbers: Bibby- 31pts, 6rebs, 4asts. Thomas & Miller- 36pts & 10 rebounds. As Simmons would say: And it’s NOW a two to ONE game series. Re-write the state of the union Lewis, it’s a whole new ballgame.
For the Sonics Allen poured in 32, and Jerome James, much to Cuttino Mobley’s ire, had another great performance with 22pts and 9 boards.

Breakdown:
-Pre-game decision: Mike Tirico & (ughhhh) Tom Tolbert or Calabro & Ehlo. Hmmm… Tough call.
-Pre-game decision #2: Fortson going with the ponytail over the pigs.
-As you may all know Sacramento runs this Princeton style offense. Super-duper All Star Chris Weber used to handle the task of hanging out at the elbow of the FT line and decide whether to a) drive, b) dish to guards in motion all over the place (especially off the curl) or to Peja chillin’ at the arc, or d) shoot the open J. Because of his versatility from the 4 spot (especially pre-injury) he was good at this. Well now that he’s gone Thomas & Miller are the primary guys taking this job on. The Sonics dared the big men to shoot the open shot in games 1 & 2 and for the most part this “defense” was effective. Today, in game 3, James & Co. were once again giving the shot to them, only this time Miller & Thomas were making them pay. 1st half? 9-16 for 23 points. Sacramento: 54 points.
-We may never again see the incompetent Jerome we’ve all come to know and love over the season. If, due to this, he gets the Wally Walker 5year multi-million $ blue plate special like McIlvaine & Booth did, please proceed to the Seattle Center with a loudspeaker and try to talk me off the edge of the Space Needle.
-Speaking of oddities, Ridnour now has back-to-back games with 2 blocks. Yikes.
-In the 2nd qtr, during a Sonics run, Ray got several 3-point plays by aggressively taking it to the hole. If he ever added a consistent desire to drive and look for the foul (aka The Fortson Special), it would add a significant addition to his game by allowing him to utilize that gaudy FT% of his.
-Adelman had Jackson & Bibby out on the floor together for extended periods of time. This combo worries me since it leaves either Allen or Ridnour forced to defend a playmaker with a quicker 1st step than them. Of course, this is only a concern if Jackson has his pre-injury speed.
-Rashard, yet again, played passively, going 0-6 in the 1st half, with very few aggressive moves to the rim. He finished with a very quiet 9 points.
-I believe the 3rd qtr went as most pundits predicted the series would: scoring in bunches off of great shooting & smooth offensive execution/questionable defense: Seattle scored 36 & Sacramento 38.
-So let me get this straight, Kings shoot (or are held to, whichever you prefer) 39 & 42% in games 1 & 2 and lose, and in game 3 shoot 50% and win. Really?

Question of the night:
Can the Sonics take the series with Bizarro Jerome taking over Lewis’ production should Lewis fail to assert himself throughout the series and should Jerome continue to play at this ridiculous level?

Bitches Brew

It appears the Kings are now resorting to the tactic typical of a team on the verge of seeing its' season end: Griping.

From Rick Adelman:
"I looked at the tape, and he made three moves where he walked five steps," Adelman said of [Jerome] James. "But when you're playing well, they let it go."

From Cuttino Mobley:
"It takes seven years to get (him) fired up?" Mobley said, questioning James' career scoring average. "Four points (per game), three points? (It's actually 4.9.) I've averaged 18 for my career. Come on, Jerome."

In all seriousness, how great is it to be on the other side? With Adelman's puzzling benching of his starters in game 2, it's inevitable that if things go slightly bad in game 3, the Kings will start biting each other, rather than the Sonics.