Weather Frightful; Sonics Moreso

Frodo tries the matador defense on T-Park. Olé!

I know the beat writers have to look for interesting hooks, but the whole "Bench vs. Bob Hill" thing is a little bit overblown, at least from my perspective.

That said, this quote from Earl Watson post-game on why he was still running on the treadmill (courtesy of the great Percy Allen in the Times) is pretty good:

"Because I need to stay in shape and 15 to 20 minutes just isn't doing it for me."

Ah, sarcasm, the sign of either a very confident team, or a very cranky backup point guard.

I don't know where Hill is coming from re the bench, as it was the starters that killed the Sonics, not the bench. Considering the Spurs' bench outscored the Sonics' 29-25, I don't consider that to be the turning point. I do, however, consider that when two guys (Wilcox/Lewis) who average 33 points give you 15, that might be a factor. Or when your two point guards grab more defensive rebounds than your starting forwards, that might hurt a bit.

According to David Locke, last night was a "lesson" for the Sonics in "championship basketball." This is coming off Friday's "part of the evolution" of Seattle's defense. Just think, if the Sonics can manage to drop 6 in a row, they'll be smart enough to contend for the title!

Seriously, this team is the classic tweener: better than bottom feeder, not good enough for the playoffs. It's a sad recipe for disaster in this town, one that's been cooked for nearly a decade now, one that's been handed down from McMillan to Weiss to Hill. It contains equal parts poor defense, overreliance on outside shooting, and lack of inside presence.

I just hope Oklahoma City likes it.

Somebody Wake Kevin Martin Up

Who the hell does Martin think he is anyway? Nobody with a shot that ugly should score 31 in a high school game, let alone against an NCAA-caliber defense like the Sonics'.

Well, Martin killed Seattle last night, with an assist from Ray "Don't tell me to stop shooting" Allen. Hopefully, Allen will get out of this recent 3-point slump, and get back to being an all-star caliber shooting guard, 'cause he's killing the Sonics right now. Take a look at his 3-point shooting in the past 8 games: 2-8,2-9,4-11,4-9,1-6,2-8,1-8,1-6.

That's 27% folks, and that ain't going to cut it.

In other news, the official Earl Watson Sweepstakes has begun; I had mid-January in the pool, so I was off by a month and half. The Heat don't have much to offer anything to the Sonics that would match up well salary-wise, unless other teams get involved. Ideally, the Sonics need to get somebody big to either start or help the anemic bench, plus they need to add a backup to Allen, because Sugar Ray's minutes are out of control. At 40+ minutes a night, he can't keep it up for the whole year (and if you think he's always played this much, try this on for size: The last time Ray Allen averaged more than 40 minutes a game, Saddam Hussein was president of Iraq).

One night off, then the Spurs on Sunday. No rest for the weary.

Stuffing

There are few times I miss living in the States more than Thanksgiving. Canadian Thanksgiving is to American Thanksgiving as Canada is to America: A pale imitation. Nobody here seems to know why they have Thanksgiving, some people celebrate it on Sunday, some on Monday, and there's little if any tradition.

Plus, the only football on Thanksgiving in Canada is the CFL. The CFL's fun and all, but it ain't exactly the National Football League. So, while you're digging into your third helping of stuffing tomorrow and debating whether to fight Uncle Fester for the dark meat, send a sentimental thought north of the border to us poor, dislocated Americans who have to work.

With that in mind, here's a few random thoughts as we head for the holidays:

1. It'd be nice to see Seattle pull one out against the Clips tonight, but LA's undefeated home record has me thinking it's a little less than likely. Let's be thankful the Sonics have an extended home stand coming soon, with a delightful Hawks-Hornets-Warriors trio of games.

2. Surprisingly, Bob Hill did not emerge as one of the 5 coaches on the hot seat in an SI piece today. I'm not saying Hill should go by any means, but the Sonics' off-kilter start certainly has to have some wondering how long he'll last.

3. This is totally off-topic for a Sonics' board blog, but, hey, it's our site, right? I was listening to Dan Patrick on Tuesday, and he brought up the whole Michigan vs USC vs Notre Dame debate. Patrick's argument was that if SC knocks off ND and UCLA, they should be playing for the title, with the reasoning that SC's only loss would be against Oregon State, "and they're a bowl team."

Let me get this straight, Michigan's only loss came in a nail-biter on the road against the #1 team in the country, and somehow that's not as good as losing to a team that's going to play in the Las Vegas Bowl? In what universe does that make any sense?

Hey, I can understand if you're going to argue that two teams from the same conference shouldn't play for the title, and while I don't agree with that argument I can see the logic. But to say that SC's loss to Oregon State is superior to Michigan's loss to Ohio State is flat-out stupid.

Of course, as a Duck fan, I assume the BCS is stupid to begin with, so I guess that makes sense.