Ah yes. The first preseason win. Freakin' Suh-weet.
Leading off, David Locke's blog entry for last night giving props to Nick and Damien for their great games last night. Kudos to Nick as well, he was clearly the player of the game with a double double effort off the bench. Studly!
Gary Washburn sums it up nicely. Crappy first half, great second half. As you've probably heard by now, Luke left the game with a thumb injury.
It was an uneven night for Seattle, which received some good fortune when X-rays on the right thumb of Luke Ridnour were negative. Ridnour left the game after the first period but returned to the bench after halftime.
Ridnour returned to Seattle on Wednesday night to have the thumb further examined by Dr. Richard Zorn. He will not be available for tonight's game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Let's see how Earl plays against the Lakeshow tonight. This could be his Wally Pipp moment, you never know ...
Earl Watson looked normal before Wednesday's game with the Trail Blazers, but he endured agony 24 hours before after having his right front tooth knocked to the Furtado Center floor by an inadvertent hand from Kenny Adeleke. Watson had dental surgery to temporarily replace the front tooth, but he refuses to play with a mouthpiece.
"Nah, I will just go with how I normally play," said Watson, who scored 15 points in 24 effective minutes. "Anything can happen, but I just can't play with a mouthpiece. I can't get used to it."
Earl Watson folks -- toothless but ruthless, hell yeah.
Hey -- before I forget ...one of my all-time favorite stoners, er, Sonics, Big Smooth Sam Perkins is in town this weekend for the Legends Tour. Don't miss it!
Frank Hughes writes that the bench saved the bacon last night and I agree with him. Frank also says Robert will start.
More than a victory, this game was about evaluation, which is what the next three games will constitute for Hill as well. (The same cannot be said for Blazers coach Nate McMillan, who played three of his starters more than 30 minutes apiece, including down the stretch. McMillan also picked up a technical foul.)
Hill said he did not know who will be in his starting lineup tonight, particularly with Ridnour out, but he did say that, based on merit, Robert Swift would be the starting center.
Frank also gives us a nice piece on Bob Hill and his thoughts about building a rotation.
Hill said he does not believe in playing two units, as Hubie Brown did in Memphis. Hill said Brown also did that in New York when Hill was his assistant.
“It is really hard to keep 10 or 11 guys happy, especially young guys,†Hill said. “It is easy to play eight or eight and a half guys. That is going to be about it.â€
So, what do you guys think? Was that Nate's game rotation last night? Because if it is I don't know that the Blazers are going to hold leads or be that consistent offensively ... I say that despite their good shooting game last night against a crappy Sonics defense, but other than Randolph I just don't see a lot of those players being real consistent scorers. Especially after Seattle made their adjustments in the second half . We'll see I guess.
And don't forget, show up tonight at Goofy's! We've got cheap eats, fun, prizes, Slick Watts, what more can you ask for on a Thursday night? Come say hi to me if we haven't met. I'm the guy in the orange track jacket. See ya!