Seattle
Friday night, December 28. The Sonics, after having played
in Denver the night before, travel to Minnesota early in
their 'no Rashard Lewis' phase, and with Ray Allen returning
for them after missing Thursday night's game following the
birth of his son. The Sonics -- in the second of back-to-backs,
losing an hour in time from Denver to Minnesota and playing a
third game in four nights post-Christmas -- shoot a season-low
35.2% percent from the field and trail by as many as 28 points
with less than 8 minutes left.
In fact, Seattle barely made it to the arena in time, after
waiting at the Denver airport for 2? hours Thursday night
during snowy weather, only to return to the team hotel for
a 4 am bedtime and re-scheduled morning flight to Minnesota.
"I think that our mental effort wasn't there tonight," Allen
said. "We didn't play with each other. We didn't make the extra
plays. We just were selfish. Regardless of what the coaching staff
had us doing, regardless of what happened defensively, offensively
we were just selfish. We just made the 'me' play all night. That's
what's contagious." It's the first time this year I think we really
gave in," Collison said. "We gave in to fatigue or gave in to the
game just not going our way. We can't do that."
Things change quickly in the NBA. All season long, we have stressed
that Seattle's coaching staff has done very well against mediocre
opposition when given time to prepare. Between their last game
(a home loss against the enhanced 'Melo and Iverson Nuggets) and
this, the Sonics' group will have had two days plus today. Minnesota
is stuck out West as a delusional team that fired its head coach
earlier in the week and thinks it can do better. Every player on
the trading block in the NBA is rumored to come to Minnesota. The
players are distracted and with Garnett there, nobody else will ever
be a reliable go-to performer. For that game in Minnesota, Seattle
started its 7-foot ''project'' center Mouhamed Sene, brought Nick
Collison off the bench, and guard Luke Ridnour shot 1-for-8. Siene
got sick and could only play eight minutes. He was recently sent to
the developmental league, but will actually be brought back for this
game as welcome big body. Collison is starting, and Ridnour has moved
to the bench. Also to fortify the paint, rookie Andre Brown is the
most motivated 6-9, 245 pounder in the NBA whose minutes and muscle
on a 10-day contract just paid off with an extension through the
remainder of the season.
Should the following scenario be a deterrent?: The fact that new
T'Wolves head coach Randy Wittman has a history with current Sonics
coach Bob Hill? Hill cut Wittman from the Indiana Pacers in 1992,
ending Wittman's NBA career. "I got Randy started in coaching at
Indiana, so I know Randy real well," Hill said. "He'll gradually
mold them the way he wants. We might see some changes. I would doubt
Randy would play as much zone. He's more of a man-to-man guy. But I
don't think they've had time to do a whole lot of changing." Hill
still has the upper hand tonight.
