And you thought Kenny G killed Jazz

In honor of the Oscars, it was "Brokeback Mountain Night" at the key last night.

The Sonics murdered the Utah Jazz 113-81 last night. The new guys stole the show with Earl "Wattstax" Watson lobbing a couple of Payton-like ally-oops to "Wilco" Wilcox, and a nice behind the back dish to "The Rash". Lost in the razzle dazzle last night was a solid performance from "The Omen", who snagged a career high seven (!) steals.

So, was this just a case of the Sonics beating on a crappy team, or are the Supes back in action? Or a little bit of both? Maybe we'll find out Wednesday night against the Grizz.

23 Games to Go

Will Hill step "One Toke Over the Line" again?

I’m guessing the odds for Seattle pulling an upset tonight rank somewhat lower than the odds of Rocky Balboa losing to Ivan Drago in “Rocky IV.” The Pistons, already established as the NBA’s premier team, are fresh off a dud in Denver where they played lousy basketball. And you know what that means, right? Yes, Detroit is ready to show that that game was an aberration, for if there is one thing great teams do, it’s snip losing streaks in the bud.

With that in mind, there’s really no point in breaking down the matchup. However, here’s how the other important games on the schedule tonight look:

Denver: 4 point underdogs at Houston
Lakers: 2 point favorites at Golden State
Kings: 3 point favorites at Atlanta
Jazz: 5 point underdogs vs Clippers

The way I see it, Denver, Utah, and the Lakers will probably lose tonight, while the Kings might win in Atlanta, and even that’s a toss-up. Still, it’s too bad the Sonics have to play Detroit, since they have a good opportunity to close within a half-dozen games of the playoffs. As it is, it’ll be a night of treading water in the Western Conference.

Race

In keeping with the “keep hope alive” sentiment, here’s how the teams Seattle is chasing fared last night:

Denver (current record: 31-27): W (oh, come on, Pistons!)
Hornets (31-27): L (16 points in the 2nd half?)
Lakers (29-29): L (thanks, Nate)
Kings(27-30): W
Jazz (27-30): L (gotta love that, no matter the situation)

Seattle (22-36): off

The net result is that the Sonics are now 7 games out of the playoffs, which is a full half-game better than they were yesterday. There are no games on tap for tonight featuring Sonic rivals for the playoffs.

Well, I figure at this pace, they’ll pass the Lakers by next Wednesday. Look, I know the “Sonics” and “playoffs” really don’t belong in the same sentence, but if we can’t root for the team we created a website for when they’re 7 games out, then why the hell did we make a website in the first place?