Lottery Update

Quite a few results from last night, and unfortunately, most of them did not go the Sonics' way. Here's what happened:

LOST:
Atlanta, Boston, Knicks, Minnesota, Charlotte, Sacto, Portland

WON:
Milwaukee

Um, yeah, that kind of hurts our chances, wouldn't you say? Anyway, were the season to end today, and the lottery was nonexistent, the standings would look thusly (losses in brackets)

Memphis (60)
Boston (56)
Milwaukee (52)
Atlanta (50)
Charlotte, Seattle, Portland (48)
New York, Minnesota, Sacto (47)

The Hawks will almost surely lose tonight at Cleveland, so you can go ahead put a 51 next to them. The Hornets will likely win against the Bucks, and then, of course, you've got the Battle for the Roses in Portland - Blazers/Sonics, tipping off at 7 tonight on FSN (or KGW if you swing that way).

I don't like to call any game "must lose," but if were to call a game "must lose" I would most assuredly call tonight's game a "must lose." The Blazers will be without Randolph, Aldridge, Roy, and Udoka. The Sonics are missing Allen, Ridnour, and Watson. That means the starting lineups will look like this:

Seattle:
Lewis, Wilkins, Wilcox, Collison, Wilks

Portland:
Webster, LaFrentz, Magloire, Jack, Jones

Call me crazy, but I'm giving the edge to Portland, The Sonics are starting 3 guys (Wilkins, Collison, Wilks) who are all really bench players. Tonight will tell if the Sonics can continue pummeling the Blazers as in the past two games, but I'm betting on the Rose City.

Oden Odyssey

Much like Homer's Odysseus, the Sonics have wandered for an eternity this year. Will it pay off? Will the Sonics, like Odysseus, be able to shoot their arrow through the target and win the biggest prize in team history?

Well, this weekend will go a long ways towards helping or hindering the Sonics' odds. Here are the key games on tap for the next three days.

Wizards at Atlanta (W)
Milwaukee (L) at Boston (W)
Knicks (L) at Nets
Spurs at Minny (L)
Charlotte (L) at Bulls
G St. at Sacto (L)
Portland (L) at Clips
Atlanta (L) at LeBron
Charlotte (L) at Milwaukee (W)
Seattle (L) at Portland (W)
Sacto (L) at Clips
Minny (L) at G St.
Knicks (L) at Toronto
Seattle (L) at Lakers

Here's how it would shake down if it goes according to plan:

Seattle: 0-2, 31-50
Portland: 1-1, 32-48
TWolves: 0-2, 32-48
Knicks: 0-2, 32-48
Sacto: 0-2, 32-48
Charlotte: 0-2, 32-49
Bucks: 1-1, 27-53
Atlanta: 1-1, 30-50

That's a crapload of teams sitting at either 30, 31, or 32 wins heading into the final three days of the season. As the past drafts have shown, there is a HUGE difference between being #4 and being #8.

What does it all mean? I think we may see a major illustration of tanking in the next six days. It also sets up some interesting matchups, like, for example, Milwaukee at Cleveland on the last day of the season. Let's say the Cavs are locked into their playoff slot and play their bench guys to make sure Z and LBJ are ready to go for the playoff push. Well, the Bucks sure as hell aren't running Junior Bridgeman and Sidney Moncrief out there these days, now are they? If I was a NBADL player, I might just hang around the lockerrooms before game time, because there's a pretty good chance yet another Buck pulls up lame before that contest.

Or how about Mavs-Sonics to close out the year? The Sonics have no reason whatsoever to play hard, and neither do the Mavs. Does it turn into a video game horror show, where both teams start chucking up 28-footers out of sheer boredom?

It's certainly not something Homer - or David Stern - would ever write about, but it's the reality of the lottery era. All I can say is, Go Blazers Go!

Valley of the Suns

Managed to catch the 2nd half of the game last night on tv, as the three people in Vancouver not watching the Canucks were able to catch the Suns-Sonics game on Sportsnet (thank you, Steve Nash!)

For those who weren't able to watch the game, the PI's Gary Washburn sums it perfectly:

"The result was more a reflection of the Sonics' lack of depth than Phoenix's
dominance."

Amen, Gary, amen. At one point, the Sonics cut the score to 67-65 if memory serves, but the Suns just slowly edged away after that. A couple reasons why it happened:

-Nick Collison was a total non-factor. Whatever juice he drank in the first two months of the season has disappeared, and nowhere was it more patently evident than last night. As Eddie Johnson (!) pointed out on the Suns' telecast, and be patient, this is a long metaphor, "You know how when you go to a restaurant and have a great meal, then you go back to that restaurant ten more times and that meal never tastes as good? That's how Collison's playing tonight. He keeps thinking he's going to have that same meal that he did a couple of months ago, but it just ain't happening."

-Randy Livingston is a long ways away from being ready to play PG for the Sonics. It's just not fair to expect a guy to come and run the offense when he doesn't even know the plays. Livingston got called for a 5-second violation on an inbounds play; I think the ref had to pull the rule book out of his pocket so he'd use the right hand gesture. When was the last time you saw that happen in the NBA?

-Andre Brown left Shawn Marion open for 3's on two consecutive possesions while he (Brown) got tangled up in the paint.

-I know Rashard scored a bunch of points, but both he and Wilcox didn't look good to me, at least from what I saw in the second half. Wilcox seemed intent on dunking on every play, and I can't begin to count how many times he lost the ball in traffic. Lewis was jacking it up on every touch, and on at least two occasions he held the ball for at least 7-8 seconds waiting for something to happen offensively.

On the positive front, Mike Wilks really looked good, especially on one possession in the second half when he took the ball to the hole a la Steve Nash. The young man is definitely capable of being a backup 2 in this league.

Even more positive, the Sonics edged closer to the 5th spot in the draft. Vive le lotterie!