As the Sonics match up against the Celtics tonight at the Key, it’s two teams that are exactly alike.
That’s unfortutate because Boston is not a good team, nor will they be a good team soon. Looking at team stats
they’re basically the same team with Seattle being a bit better offensively and Boston better on the defensive end of the floor.
http://www.nba.com/sonics/news/preview051226.html
Seattle has been dreadful at home and Friday night’s nationally televised game might have been a low point. It wasn’t low because they lost to the Mavs (a much better team), but because they dominated the game for most of the night, and then when it mattered, they lost to a team that had played the night before. The really sad part was seeing the Mavs do whatever they wanted.
I’m sure Sonics players sent the Seahawks Thank You cards for Christmas as the Sonics have been in the media shadow in Seattle and probably haven’t been under the hard scrutiny their play deserves.
Minnesota hasn’t been tremendously better than the Sonics under D. Casey for those in the “wish we had Dwayne rather than Bob Weiss†camp. I’m still seeing a team trying to find its identity and rotations well into the season. It takes time to get used to a new coach (well, unless you’re Detroit) so I think Weiss deserves some patience from fans, but it’s hard to get motivated by the play of this—especially their poor defensive performances.
I would love to see Seattle get after it tonight and hold the Celts below 94 points while scoring over 100 themselves.
I felt bad for Luke having such a bad game Friday night. He’s a dedicated Christian, but I’m sure he spent the Christmas weekend working on his game (knowing his strong work ethic). It would be nice to have a bounce-back game for Luke and see him start gaining some confidence and rhythm with his shot.
And maybe the holiday good cheer will see Nick get a little love from the officials. They’ve returned to their happy-whistle form of last year where Nick automatically gets calls against him just for being on the court. Nick’s been frustrated as he’s talking to refs much more this year than last. He causes fouls for sure, but some of the ticky tack calls he gets against him don’t seem to be going against other players of lesser defensive ability. It’s strange.
If we can slow down Ricky Davis and Ray has a nice game, it should go well for the Sonics, but it sure would be nice to have more confidence, as a fan, when playing sub .500 teams that we can beat them. Unfortunately, we’re one of those bad teams too.
Go Sonics.
John