| Who Left The Door Open? Authored by Bob Souza - May 2, 2005 - 2:03 pm
| Current Featured Columns | | Merry Christmas, Raptors Fans The Raptors might not be playing good basketball right now, but there are plenty of things for Toronto fans to be thankful for this holiday season.
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One of the ball boys must have done it. Get him. He’s got some explaining to do.
Sixty-eight points at the break! Good gosh, that’s almost seventy. Well over 130 if you compute for the whole game. Except they only managed 102, a measly 34 in the second half. It was like Big Mo defected – decided he’d rather go play for the other side.
Game 4 was going according to script, and there was the real sense this thing was going back to Seattle tied at two, with the Kings able to ride the momentum to a game five victory, and beyond. Even Peja Stojakovic had regained his touch, a guaranteed sign of better days ahead.
Oh sure, the Sonics had whittled a 19-point lead down, but that kind of stuff happens frequently in the NBA. There was no reason to panic, or suspect any loss of control.
Then halftime. Then… kablooey.
You can blame some of it on tougher Sonic defense, and you can blame a lot of it on all-planet Ray Allen. But that’s where it ends. The group philosophy seemed to be: If you can’t make an open shot, then you might as well force one. And do it quickly.
Pass? Why, when I can shoot. Let’s not waste time.
Normally, teams start the second half with a bit of a plan. The Sonics certainly appeared to have one. The Kings didn’t, unless you consider a shot by Mike Bibby from nearly thirty feet as some kind of new surprise weapon. What was he thinking?
The bench, except for Corliss Williamson, was basically useless. And you had to wonder why Maurice Evans didn’t get a shot at Allen. Maybe he could have held him under 40. Eddie House has shown he can shoot – give him a few minutes.
All you need to know: Bibby had one point in the second half, missing all six shots in the final quarter and looked tired; Stojakovic tallied 21 prior the intermission, but then just 6 the rest of the way.
Peja talked about being more aggressive, a style he executed with success in the first half. Somewhere along the trail that aggression disappeared, and so did he. Completely. Too bad he didn’t get inspiration from Kenny Thomas, who seemed to be the only King fighting for rebounds.
The Kings should learn something about desire from Seattle. “We don’t play playoff basketball in skirts,” coach Nate McMillan sneered.
Hey… we resent that.
Danny Fortson took exception to an earlier remark by Rick Adelman, where he had described Fortson’s style as pushing and mugging. “I don’t like (Adelman’s) comment about mugging people,” Fortson glowered.
Laughable, since Fortson’s been a thug everywhere he’s played. It’s the only reason he’s still in the league.
One game, but it leaves an exceptionally disgusting taste.
Bibby moaned, “It’s bad. It’s a big blow. But we still have life. Nobody on this team is going to lay down.”
So what’s he supposed to say? That people are off polishing their golf clubs, checking to see if they have enough balls for the front nine?
Now they need to win 3 in a row, and does anybody really expect that to happen? At this point, just getting it to a game seven (or six) would be thrilling.
But then they’d still have to find a way to stop Ray. |
