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Momentum Shift and the Dream of a Deciding Game

The Spurs have gone from unstoppable to unwatchable. I don't know that I have seen a series shift as much as we have seen from the game 1 Spurs' win to the game 4 Sonics' win. The Sonics have done something that I did not think they could do after losing the the first two, they have tested the Spurs. While some teams have wilted under the playoff pressure (the Wizards for example) and proved themselves to be playoff pretenders, the Sonics have now establish themselves as true playoff contenders.

Where does this leave the Spurs? Potentially somewhere that they don't want to be. They are now playing a game 5 that they need to win. I am sure they had an unspoken plan of getting at least one at the Key and then returning to San Antonio and wrapping this thing up. The Spurs are now going to look at game 5 as a must win. They must retake the momentum, they must retain the home-court advantage, they must match Seattle's intensity or they risk losing a game at home.

The Spurs have a great team, but they now also have a great opponent, not something they expected after rolling the Sonics in games 1 and 2. My only hope as a Sonics fan is that Seattle sets up a deciding game. I want the Sonics and their fans to have at least one game that puts them in a position to advance if they win. If Seattle can pull off an upset in game 5, we get a deciding game at the Key, a dream scenario for a lower seed in a playoff series.