The following will be my thoughts on this game while the game is in progress.
Feel free to comment as I go along. I tried this last week and it seemed to work well.
Starting Lineup: Allen, Ridnour, Lewis, Evans, and Petro.
1:35 1st Q: I missed the first part of the game. Sonics are currently down 15 to 23. Rashard has scored 9 of the 15 points thus far.
I'm having problems with my feed, so I don't know how well this post will go. ESPN doesn't appear to have a game cast going, and Yahoo isn't updating theirs. The NBA.com feed is terrible for specific info.
End of 1st Q: Sonics 20 Grizz 24.
-The Sonics shot poorly in the 1st quarter, at 37.5%. Thankfully Rashard was able to get to the line (5 of 6).
-7 1st Q turnovers is a concern.
-Vitaly got 9:34 in this quarter, which surprizes me a bit, but he was rebounding well (5). Vlade also was rebounding well (5) in his 5:49.
-Mike Miller has to have a hand in his face. Make him put it on the floor, he's a great shooter (yea Mitchell, SD!).
Start of 2nd - Ray, Luke, Rashard, Reggie, Johan
The fact that Luke has only 1 assist in 10 minutes of play is concerning. Keep feeding Rashard, he seems to have it working tonight!
-It's nice to see Johan being allowed to play inspite of having a few fouls. I don't see saving him on the bench to avoid his 4th, as he's likely not getting closing minutes this early in his career.
5:25 2nd Q: Tied up 31 to 31. Lewis blocked Gasol, always nice when Lewis is using his length. I think sometimes he forgets how tall he is. He can really pick up a lot of weak side blocks if he looks for them, though that might leave him exposed defensively.
2:51 2nd Q: I looks like a game long heavy dose of Gasol. I like how they keep going to him, letting him keep the ball in his hands even if he's not hot at the moment. I think we could do this more with Lewis in the blocks. Go to Lewis without him having to score, he would just be putting stress on the defense to react to him there. He's a good enough passer, and he frequently draws a double team. It's a nice switch from the P&R or the motion offense.
Some interesting substitutions - Wilkins replaced Collison, and Potapenko replaced Allen at different points in the first half. That's the flexibility of our roster, where guys slide from position to position.
1:15 2nd Q: it would be nice to close this quarter out with a defensive stop and a basket to tie it back up before half. Really a low scoring affair.
Halftime: Seattle 37 Memphis 41
-Rashard 13pts 6 boards
-Ray 10pts 3 assists
-Reggie 8 rebounds (very nice!)
-Mike Miller 10 pts 2 of 3 from 3pt. range
-Sonics 1 of 10 from 3pt. range
6:43 3rd: The Sonics just can't seem to get control in this game. Currently down 8, 44 to 52. Reggie is rebounding really well. Interestingly, Vitaly seems to have played the most minutes of the big men thus far.
3:00 3rd: Battier has been incredibly efficient tonight on 8 of 9 shooting. The Sonics are still shooting very poorly, 17 of 52 (.327) and 3 of 16 from 3pt. Interestingly, the Griz are shooting the same percentage from the 3pt line as the free throw line (.455 - 5 of 11).
-again there is nobody for the sonics stepping forward as the much coveted 3rd scorer. Vlade is 2 of 3 from downtown, but that's all his points.
1:04 3rd Q: Sonics are now down 15pts. It's going to take a strong quarter on both ends of the floor if they are to win this game. Currently the Sonics have 9 assists to the 20 for the Griz. Luke should have nearly 9 by himself at this point in the game if he is to rise to the upper levels of point guards in the NBA. Luke is 1 for 5 from the floor, with 3 assists and 1 TO.
10:45 4th Q: Lewis just committed his 5th TO. Sonics are down 17pts. If they are going to get back in this, they need to move very soon, or they will be too deep to dig themselves out.
Win or lose, this is NOT a good way to start off an extended road trip. I'm beginning to wonder if Nick Collison is sick tonight or something. He's not played his regular minutes, nor has he played like his regular self.
8:54 4th Q: Sonics 55 Griz 76. If things don't change in the next 5 minutes, I think Weiss pulls Ray and possibly Rashard. It's not working tonight, might as well get some other guys some minutes. Maybe feature Vlade for a while and see if he can start to heat up. Nothing else seems to be working tonight. The defense seems solid, the rebounding excellent, but everything else is poor to terrible.
This is and offensive stinkeroo. The offense is offensive. Nobody is having a good game on offense for the Sonics. Usually just one guy goes cold, but tonight everybody seems to have been sitting on blocks of ice.
3:30 4th Q: I'm shutting this post down. This is too ugly to keep up with. We're down 20 (63-83). I'll post the box score after the game.