We’d all like to believe in the Sonics. We’d all like to believe that this glorious ride they’ve given us the first two months of the season is going to continue.
We’d all like to believe that these guys are genuine title contenders.
We’d all like to believe but …
There’s always that loathsome but, isn’t there?
Why is that? Because we’ve learned.
We learned from 1998-99 when the local heroes started the lockout-delayed season 6-0 and finished it 25-25.
We learned from 1999-00 when they won nine of their first 11 games and then lost 35 of their final 71 to finish 45-37.
We learned from 2002-03 when they went 8-2 out of the gate, only to struggle to the wire with a 40-42 record.
We learned from 2003-04 when they opened 5-1 and closed 37-45.
Only one of those teams got into the playoffs, and it – the 99-00 crew – was eliminated in the first round.
That’s why we qualify the torrid 20-6 start of the current squad with the hateful but.
We keep waiting for the fall. We waited for it on the first long road trip. This will surely reveal them for what they are: the same old get-em-excited-then-let-em-down Sonics.
So what’d they do? They kept getting us excited, winning five of six.
Just wait, the skeptics said. Just wait ‘til they go to Texas.
They went to Texas. They took Tim Duncan’s best shot in San Antonio and came away victors. They took Dirk Nowitzki’s best shot in Dallas and won again.
They won’t win in Utah, though, the doubters said. They haven’t won at the Delta Center since February of 2000.
“One of the toughest buildings in the league to play in,” acknowledged Sonics coach Nate McMillan.
They won in Utah, beating the Jazz 98-88 Monday night.
“Yeah,” McMillan said the next day. “That was special.”
Not so special was what happened later that night in the Sonics’ own digs, Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers beating the homeboys 114-107. Not the way you want to close out the home portion of the old year. Not the way you want to go into another long road trip.
This one could be a bruiser. They take on the entire Southeast Division. Five games in nine days, a mixture of lightweights (Atlanta and Charlotte), middleweights (Orlando and Washington) and one heavyweight (Shaquille, er, the Miami Heat).
Another chance for the Sonics to prove the skeptics right or wrong, beginning today with the Hawks in Atlanta.
So far, the doubters are oh-for-the-season. And McMillan knows the reasons why. The Supes are playing better defense. And they’re finishing close games strongly, something they often didn’t do last year.
“There were a ton of games we lost by one or two points, by a bucket or a missed shot,” he said, “and now this year we’re making plays.” Or, as he put it, “knocking down shots that last year we didn’t knock down.”
Consider: Of the Sonics’ 45 losses last year, 22 were by nine points or less, or three 3-pointers. This year they’re 8-3 in games decided by nine points or less.
A big difference this year. “We play pretty well with each other for four quarters,” offered Ray Allen.
Something else that’s changed: They have some brawn in the person of Danny Fortson.
“I think they feed off of his energy, his physical play, the toughness that he brings to the floor,” McMillan said.
Reggie Evans doesn’t back down from anyone, and the 6-foot-9 youngster Nick Collison is proving his mettle as a first-year tower of strength. “Nick is just as tough as the other two guys,” McMillan said.
Collison is going to be a solid player, offensively and defensively. As a coach’s son, he knows the game, he’s smart, he’s aggressive, he’s tough, he works hard, he wants to get better. He could be one of those players who averages 15 points and 10 rebounds a game once he gets some experience.
Fortson is like a stop sign, setting screens all over the offensive end of the court. Make that a mobile stop sign. Someone asked McMillan if the blocky forward has ever set a legal screen. “He’s set a couple, I’m sure,” the coach said with a smile.
So the Sonics are playing better defense, they’re winning close games, and they’ve shown some moxie.
Anything else that’s made this team foil the skeptics? Yes, there is.
“We’re good friends,” Allen said. “That’s the biggest thing. We have our adversities, but we don’t have any egos where somebody feels like they need more of this or that to happen. Everybody just goes out and does what they’re capable of doing. We know what guys’ strengths are and we try to accentuate them and not worry about the negatives.
“Everybody can rise to a great level of play and that’s what the guys in this locker room are doing.”
Now they’ll try to do it one more time on this road trip, either proving the skeptics right or wrong.
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