For me, yesterday's loss was a textbook example of how quickly a team can throw a game away. Check the play by play.
At the beginning of the 4th quarter the Sonics are down 3 and still very much in the game. Over the next 8 or so possessions the Sonics bench literally gives the game away. Block, foul on Earl, block, turnover, turnover, Nick tip in, turnover and the team goes from being down to being down by 9 or 10. In the space of about three minutes of game time. Sigh.
I think it can be said that the bench proved last night that they aren't exactly closers. I would rehash some form of Alec Baldwin's speech in Glengarry Glen Ross if I thought it would help but this group is just having a hell of time putting it together. Earl Watson's shot selection is plumbing new depths of suckitude heretofore only explored by Ryan Seacrest and Rod Stewart (not together). Damien Wilkins needs to learn that he is not and never will be an outside threat. Outside of about 5 feet that is. Nick I'll get to in a minute.
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels said Wednesday he would ask the Legislature to subsidize KeyArena -- including bailing out its debt -- if a competing arena is built in Western Washington.
"As the region and the state talk about potential alternatives, we will be at that table and we will be making the case that we will have to have some compensation made for KeyArena so that it could remain a viable, financially solvent piece of the Seattle Center campus," Nickels said at a separate news conference.
And you didn't do sh*t about I-91 even though you knew this would be the consequence. Seattle Center is dead and buried. And now as we told everyone before this initiative went down, now it's going to become nothing more than a gigantic empty eyesore bleeding money. I still think we should rename it the Chris Van Dyk Public Restroom for More Important Things. As far as I'm concerned Nickels is like the kid who crapped in his pants at the mall and now wants his mom to buy him new pants because that other kid over there got new Dickies.
Bellevue, Renton, some other suburb ...
Bennett said the group should choose a site by the end of the month and stressed that it will be outside Seattle. He declined to speculate about the future of KeyArena other than to say he wants to build a world-class facility and KeyArena is an inferior venue.
HOK won the bid from seven competing companies, in part because of its experience in building sports facilities.
HOK designed and built Pepsi Center in Denver, Toyota Center in Houston, The Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville and Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, among others.
I've been to several of those venues and I don't give a damn what Nickels and VanDyk say they blow Key Arena away. Blow. It. Away.
Rashard for once isn't the quiet man.
Lewis noticed certain players exerting more intensity during the past two days of practice.
"I don't want to say any names, but certain guys played really hard in practice (Tuesday)," he said. "And they took it personal playing against that first unit. The bottom line is that we need to win. And that makes everything better."
After hearing that Watson was perturbed by an unreturned cell phone message, Hill scheduled lunch with the point guard to settle matters further.
"It's over now," Hill said. "We've all blown it out of proportion. I wanted to stir it up but I didn't to stir up a stew for Thanksgiving, just a cup of tea."
I met Al once in downtown Chicago when the Raiders were playing the Bears a couple years ago. My sister was getting married and they were staying in the same hotel the Raiders were. I was taking the elevator down to the lobby to meet my sister and my dad and the door opens and Jerry Rice is standing right in front of me. (For the record, Jerry is smaller in person. ) That lineman guy that went crazy, Barrett Robbins was there too and he was freaking HUGE. Unreal. The whole team is packed into the lobby like ... a bunch of NFL players packed into a Westin Hotel lobby ... I'm sure you can imagine it.
Anyways, the team bus is parked out front and Al is walking inside very slowly with the aid of a cane. Al is very old, very greasy, and covered in gold chains like Mr. T. My brother asks Al's handlers who are flitting about him like tsetse flies around a pile of hippo droppings, if he can get a picture with Al real quick. One of the handlers says, "No, Mr. Davis doesn't like having his picture taken." I can only guess that he probably thought it would steal his soul, or maybe he's really a vampire or something and you can't take his picture.
Now it appears Hill might cause more controversy by benching either of the two and getting little-used Mickael Gelabale more playing time. Also, Hill is expected to replace Petro in the starting lineup with rookie Mouhamed Sene or perhaps Nick Collison.
"Johan, Nick, (Chris Wilcox), we rely on those guys a whole lot to score," Allen said. "And if they don't have it or get in foul trouble then we're going to different guys. If those different guys don't have it or are making mistakes out there, then our offense suffers."
I'm all for putting Sene in and I imagine most of you are too. His short run last night was probably the most watchable stretch of the game, and as long as Nick Collison continues his eerily accurate impersonation of Steve Scheffler's game he is not helping. Giving him Scheffler's minutes might not help the team win but it'll do wonders for my blood pressure.
What? Frank Hughes blow something out of proportion? Surely that's NEVER happened before ... nice to see Jayda back.
And speaking of Mr. Sunshine himself, here he is.
Allen said he is tired of trying to get his teammates involved, only to watch opponents run away with the game. He said it is both the play-calling of Hill and the execution of teammates that is preventing Allen and forward Rashard Lewis from taking as many shots as they should.
“Trying to wait for some of these other guys does get frustrating,†Allen said. “You either got to have it or you got to move aside so we can get our offense going. It is frustrating right now, I can’t lie about that.â€
Not that I don't understand Ray's frustrations, but it's not as if he isn't part of the problem himself. He has almost singlehandedly shot this team out of a couple games himself.
Lot of work left to do.
By the way if you haven't been reading Pete's blog the past couple of days you should. Some seriously clever, hilarious stuff the past couple of days. Way to go Pete.