SEATTLE – Perhaps they were worn out from Christmas shopping. Perhaps they were distracted by visions of sugarplums. Perhaps a few fellows have already been nipping the eggnog.
And perhaps Wednesday’s game at KeyArena simply pitted one slumping NBA team against another playing merely well enough to win.
Regardless, the Seattle SuperSonics will settle for a victory, even one as unsightly as Wednesday’s 98-83 decision over the undermanned and underachieving Denver Nuggets.
”It wasn’t a pretty game,” acknowledged Seattle forward Vlade Radmanovic, ”It looked like nobody wanted to play. But I don’t care what it looks like. As long as we’re winning, it’s great.”
”It was an ugly game,” added guard Ray Allen, ”but we closed it out.”
Their own worst enemy at times with careless ball-handling and less-than-sharp shooting, the Sonics still managed to go on top in the game’s early moments and stay there the rest of the way, including a double-digit margin through most of the final three periods.
”If we have a bunch of pretty games and lose them, it doesn’t mean anything,” Radmanovic said. ”Whether it’s ugly or pretty, as long as it’s a W it’s a good win.”
The victory, combined with Orlando’s 93-87 win over San Antonio (20-6), allowed the Sonics to regain the NBA’s second-best record. At 19-5, Seattle has a lead of .023 percentage points over the Spurs, with both teams trailing Phoenix, the league leader at 22-3.
By winning, the Sonics also managed to protect their string of not losing back-to-back games this season. Seattle had dropped its previous outing, 112-110, to Phoenix last Friday.
Since facing the Suns, the Sonics had gone four days without a game, which coach Nate McMillan believes was the primary reason for the ragged showing.
”This was a game I was a little nervous about,” he said. ”With four days off, you don’t know what to expect. … In the third quarter we gave up 31 points and I thought we looked a little fatigued, which comes from so many days off.”
Yes, it was sometimes sloppy and it was often feisty, with 45 personal fouls and four unsportsmanlike technical fouls. Some of the play under the basket was so rugged that Seattle’s Danny Fortson, who collects fouls at a brisk rate on a typical night, outdid himself by fouling out in a mere 10 minutes. He also had one of the technical fouls.
Neither did the two teams shoot particularly well, even though the defense on both sides was at times, shall we say, porous. Consider, the Sonics were 8-for-23 from the field in the first quarter (.340) and still found themselves with a 24-15 lead.
By game’s end, Seattle had improved to .435, though it was a night the starting backcourt would prefer to forget. Point guard Luke Ridnour was just 2-for-11 while Allen, weakened by an upper respiratory infection, was 7-for-20.
”I felt I was, like, two steps slower just running up and down the floor,” Allen admitted. ”It felt like my chest was tight when I was running. I was just trying to get that second wind the whole time, but I never got it.”
”He definitely looked like he’s not in perfect shape right now,” Radmanovic said. ”When you have the flu or a high temperature, it wears you out. Every shot that he took, something was wrong with it. He didn’t have enough energy, enough strength, to get into his shots.”
Still, Allen had sufficient touch to throw the pass of the game, a fast-break lob to Radmanovic for a rim-rocking dunk late in the fourth quarter.
”People don’t think I can jump,” Radmanovic said with a smile, ”but sometimes all they have to do is throw it in the air. Because I have a little juice.”
The Nuggets, who lost their fourth straight game, were without forward Carmelo Anthony, the team’s leading scorer at 21.4 points per game. He has a sprained left ankle and did not make the trip to Seattle. In addition, center Marcus Camby was returning from a bout with bronchitis and had just three points, while guard Greg Buckner was suffering from the flu and played just seven minutes, going scoreless.
The game was played before a crowd of 17,072, the fifth straight sellout for a team that has suddenly grabbed the attention of Seattle sports fans.
Ahead for the Sonics are two days of practice, followed by a day off on Christmas. The team practices again Sunday morning, then heads to Salt Lake City for Monday’s game against the Jazz. The Sonics return home for a Tuesday game with Philadelphia before departing the next day for a five-game, nine day trip to the East Coast.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
