Elvis Grizzly Sighting

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  FINAL GAME OF 2005 12/31/05

   HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

Domo Arigato Mr. Nugato

Ray Allen sans the tights, went off against Denver. Notice the wry confident smile on Ray's face and the look of bewilderment on the defenders face. Sweet. When your in the zone what mo can you do? Party on Ray!

  Cap the end of the mini road trip with a W in Denver. Denver was outmanned. Due to injury. We haven't outmanned many this season. Our All Stars played like it. The man...Ray...39 pts. Rashard poured in 27. But to even it out, Seattle played without Rid and Danny Fortson.

  I love Earl Boykins, cause you gotta root for the 5'5" NBA guy. He made an amazing shot. Chased down an inbounds pass that was going out of bounds and heaved it, in the air, and out of bounds, and over a 6'9" Rashard, and behind  the backboard high arch SWISH! And as the ball passed through the net the red lights went on and the buzzer sounded to end the 2nd quarter. Dramatic sh*t for the home team to end the 1st half and a 61-58 lead. Should have been a momentum builder. Melo and Boykins tore it up in the 1st half and went away for the 2nd.I don't know why you say goodbye I say hello. Rashard lays in 2 of his 27. Note Melo with his trademark "Xanadu" headband. Thats right Melo, You have to believe you are magic and get physical wit yo bad ole self!

    I'll take any road W, or any W for that matter. Its back to Seattle now for a New Year's Eve tiff with the Griz. Remember when the Grizzlies were in Vancouver. No, not Vancouver, WA, Vancouver BC silly. One of the supposed selling points of that franchise to Vancouver was to develop this supposed "I-5" rivalry between Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland. Never happened. Take it from an American who lived basically on the border between Canada and the US in Blaine, WA. Canadians don't give a crap about basketball. I always thought the whole Raptors thing as "cartoonish". Everytime I see the purple uni's all I can think about is Barney! The NBA finals could be on and on Canadian TV theywould have a curling match on. Which is basically lawn bowling on ice. I lived 34 miles from Vancouver and never caught the Griz, not worth watching and I disdain lazy ball Raheem and he was they're marquee player. But everytime I think of the Grizzlies now its funny, Grizzlies in Memphis? Thats as likely as a Yeti in Manhattan! The coolest name for a Memphis pro sports franchise ever? And should be the hoops team name too is the Memphis Showboats of the defunct USFL. Where the great Reggie White got his start. Bring on the Griz, we will be ready.

Wanna Buy a Nug?

 I kinda like the Nuggets. Cuz I got a soft spot for all old ABA teams that merged with the NBA way back when. Plus old Sonic ties. George Karl led the Sonics squad to the championship round in 1995. Where we joined the ranks of the pummeled by one of the great Chicago Jordan led teams. How come Luc Longley never gets any props from those teams? Maybe cuz he sucked. Another Aussie in the NBA I loved in college but never made it in the NBA, Andrew Gaze. Back to the task at hand.

  Not brushed up on the Nuggets but from what I have read they are banged up a bit.

Marcus Camby suffered a fractured finger at Golden State.

  Kenyon is out and Camby. Maybe Boykins at center? Denver is beginning a 6 game homestand and will be up. Seattle is on the down elevator. We will see if we can deal and steal a W.

  George Karl, coach of the Nuggets, back in his playing days in the old ABA. Nice hair dude. Pass that bong over here. Make me one of those sprout and avocado sandwiches too George, I'm hungry!

A Garnett Can Be A Daimond

 Fun with food. Sonic food art. Bohemian Like We. Hopefully like the old Soungarden adage, we won't be "feeling Minnesota" after this one. Road trip to the cold. From Minnehahah to the Rockies, where we will meet the Nuggets, who are underachieving as well. Unless this is just the new Sonic identity, the .500 plateau, or sub. Tonight its the Wolves and we always seem to play them well. Think we have taken 3 straight from them. Then we fly back to SEA for 1 game w/the Griz and then its on the road for 5. Its not getting easier. Rid is not making the trip, Luke has a chest contusion. Flip Murray rose against Boston w/Luke out last game, but has 2 dislocated fingers I think himself.

 

  Is Wally Sczerbiak Ricky Nelson's long lost son? Could Ozzie be Wally's Grandpa? This picture says yes. Could he have missed his oppurtunity to don the peroxide wig and sing the hit "After the Rain" with the Nelson twins? The Nelsen triplets. This story Iam going to sell to the Weekly World News. They already bought my "Baby Born with Wooden Leg" story so there is hope this story has "legs".   But the best story I ever broke? This:                                               

 
 Now, was I talking about the T Wolves or what? Back to tonights game in the land of a 1000 frozen lakes:

  We got crushed 108-95...Nugs next in Mile High.

 

 I score in bunches and give up even more on Dee, do you know who Iam?

The Green & the Green

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  A matchup tonight of soon to be also rans and has beens? Slowly I lose faith but I enjoy the game and my team so on we go. I have got to give us a C- so far. Defense on this team was always lacking, but obvious w/out Jerome James, who at least was tall, don't really know if he was a dee king.

 Oh Luke were are you? I read Luke dominated a mismatch with his defensive assignment for this game last game in Boston. Scoring 15 pts and dishing out 13 assists. Do this regularly Rid and we will all love you more. We need to beat the teams we should at home, and we should beat Boston. Should is a far cry from the end result the way the Sonics play this year.

 The Celtics are 2-8 away from whatever they call where they play now. Its always "the Gahden" to me when it comes to the Celtics I hate corporate takeover of stadiums, although it puts alot of money into someones coif. I'm waiting for the "Little Debbie Zebra Cake/Chia Pet Arena". Hey! Isn't that already a low rent college bowl game? Ex Blazer and Hornet Dan Dickau starts for the Celts. Maybe he will fit in here. I always liked him. Kinda like Napolean Dynamite of the NBA. Can get it going on outside. Always like Ex Zags in the NBA. Scratch him though, he is injured I have just learned, bummer.

  Paul Pierce is having a good season. Him and Allen may trade baskets all night. Lets get a streak going. We have one in us I just know it. I don't think we have won more than two in a row at anytime so far in this short season where were at in the schedule. Its lookin' .500, just being honest. Some win streaks could change this opinion. Go get em!

 We ended up winning this game 118-111, Pierce had 43 for Boston but we overcame. Road Trip.

LIGHT A CUBAN

DALLAS: 101

SEA: 98  talk to ya later. Chargers/KC rules my world to the eve.

By The Time I Get To Phoenix

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Reggie Evans (pictured here) shot 70% and we still lost by 28! In the individual stat world Ray Allen passed Glen Rice on the all time 3 pt. list, he made four. We lost by 28. Its obvious at this point we can't hang with the best in the west          I wonder who would have thought that two of the better guards in the NBA would be from, respectivlely, Victoria, BC, Canada, and Blaine, WA. Two little towns that seemed unlikely places for NBA guards to "get game". And very close in proxiimity to each other. Always blew my mind. Congrats to MVP Nash and someday (?) MVP Ridnour, you make NWest B ball look good. Everytime I think we are awakening from our mediocre doldrums, we stay in the mediocre doldrums. Could it be true we are not that good? My verdict is still not in. Need to gather a little more evidence. I know this team has a 10-0 run in it, just you watch. Next up; Mavs

Help Mr. Wizard!

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 Plead not guilty in the morning, score 30 at night. Yep its "Rashard "role model" Lewis. Its late and I must sleep. It snowed in Portland, Oregon where I live yesterday, that never happens.

TOO MUCH RASHARD

 This was shaping up as a blowout but Portland made a nice run in the 4th and made it look respectable on paper, but it was never in doubt. You have to play all 4 quarters but this was almost over after one.

  In a losing cause replacement guard for Sebastian Telfair Steve Blake played solid, as I kinda predicted. 19 pts & 13 assists. Blake arguably played the best game a Blazer guard has had all year. Ray Allen had 24 pts for Seattle also. At one point in the 1st half the Sonics were up by 33. As Mr. Burns from the Simpsons would say, "Eggx- cell-ent!" It seemed for awhile whatever we threw up went down. Was waiting for Luke R to hold one for Ray and they would kick one through ala Harlem Globetrotters style but Portland slowly began to chip away at the stone. We ran out of steam and let em back in during the 4th, but we smoked the Blazers. Like beating Portland is like climbing Everest or something. More like scaling Bandini Mtn.

  We are on a modest one game win streak and play the Wizards Monday, make that a 2 game winning streak. We owe them big time for a large beat down suffered in they're house earlier in the season. Look out Wiz.

IN THE PINK

No, its not Andre 3000 from Outkast. Its "Superfly" Darius Miles, who had surgery today and will not be playing against the Sonics tonight in Portland. And all done up in his pink brim he seems to be saying,"I'll take the 3rd bong from the left". Or maybe, "no, no twinkies...chocodiles baybee!" Just heard Jeff Blake will be starting in place of a banged up (thumb) Telfair, he has been shooting well. He should rise for he is fighting for minutes. Who is gonna cover Ray? Your guess is as good as mine. Were gonna win this...and we should.

Drive Down the 5

AT

I'll Take Some Cheese To Go Along With My Whine

Rocket to Russia

AT 

 Another chance at home redemption. Can we break out of this funk and win a few in a row maybe? Will post blog, listening to the game on fuzzy radio 2 nite.

  Rick Barry was a Rocket too? Why the hell not? He played for every other ABA-NBA team. Rick was good and even shot his free throws underhanded and made about 90% of them I believe. But he is a bitch ass whiner. In Ricks honor I dedicate tonight's game to whining, and hopefully Houston will be the WHINE-ER! If not, Ithe Sonics have given me much to whine about and I'm getting better at it. GO SONICS! Beat houston and let me diss in peace...back it up!

Baron Buzzer Beater 0.4 Trey!

  Check Ray's tights in this photo, nice. Dunleavy's red shoes be rawkin' too.

  The morning rumor mill, even heard this on Jim Rome, is Flip Murray and Vlade to Indiana for the Artest of dysfunction. Hate to say, I'd take it. We would become a formidable team this year. We'll see.

  We were beat inside of a second by a Baron 3, brutal. Before I go, a college shout out to 2 of the best teams playing college ball, WA & Gonzaga, look out if their on your schedule. GO SONICS!

Old Pacific Rivals

Old skool and original "Mr. Sonic" Lenny Wilkens takes it to the hole, storming past Nate Thurmond in an early 70's matchup.

  Back to the grindstone against an old familiar, and vastly improved Warrior team. We were at .500 so now were not. Hopefully this is not a milestone we will be playing for throughout the season.

  I was a Warrior fan as a child and teen. Remember the 1974-75 Championship team well. Besides Rick Barry, name one Warrior from that team. I moved from Cali to Seattle in like 1973 so the Green grew on me. Not a Warrior hater though. And love those old skool home "the City" jersey's, my fave besides Sonics early 70's yellows. Basketball vanity, you gotta love it. And dress codes. If through the evolution of the basketball short has lengnth grown longer each year? It seems so. By this logic, reverse it and what were they wearing in the 40's, speedos? I like the Jon Stockton "Richard Simmon's Dolphins" shorts look. OUCH.

Jason Richardson is throwing down at a 22.9 ppg

  The Warriors counter our Ray Allen with Jason Richardson and Baron Davis, throw in a dash of Dunleavy and there you have it. Its a home game so use that advantage...the road looms. Let's start a little ole win streak heah! GO SONICS!!!

KING CROWNING

Pint Size Kings & Rahim

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 So Sac town, what did I say about your Rahim acquisition in my earliest blogs? Rahim would be a let down. How you like me now? Not that my Sonics are setting the world on fire but the Kings are in a serious valley We have reached .500, where do the Sonics choose to go from here? Hopeful ascension to upper playoff tier would be nice. Hell, contention for a playoff spot would be cool at this point.

  I'm not knocking Rahim. Its like an 8 year career without one playoff game under his belt! He has a bad luck streak I guess...not. He just kinda sucks. Wherever he goes. Vancouver, Atlanta, Portland...and on to Sacramento...what a resume. Well, I hate the Kings except when they play the Lakers. GO SONICS!!!

Salt Lick City Jazz

  Seems we whupped em good. Jazz are sliding, we are .500, nuff said. Seems Danny Fortson freaked and was semi forcibly removed from the game in the 4th. Everytime I see Kirilinko I think he is gonna blurt out, "I must break you". And the Sonics say ala Rocky Balboa, "Go For It!" Good job Seattle, a road win is a W 1/4!

  The Jazz guy who always freaked me out was Mark Eaton, like a cross between Abe Lincoln and Andre the Giant. He played like Fred Flinstone but I always thought he was good nonetheless. The Pistol played for the Jazz. To this day one of the most breath taking high lights I have ever seen was Pistol Pete in lime green Atlanta uni's of old racing on a breakaway with a defender in his mug, stride for stride. Pete looks him in the eye, and fakes a behind the back pass one handed and palms the ball, defender stops in his jock and Pete takes it to the hole for a soft lay in...too much...class n style.

  GO SONICS!

KNICKED AT HOME

 We got beat in the throwback unis at home. I'm sleepy. Too bad.

3 IN A ROW

  The baddest man in tails usually flails. But on this night he provided some lift for the suddenly sound Sonics. I must admit, my 1st priority was the Charger/Raider game but it was a nice set up at Claudia's (my Charger haunt here in Portland, OR) Sports Bar. The Bolts on the high def big screen and to my right, two 27" LCD's with, on the top TV the Sonics game and below the Blazers game. Too much to follow.

Ace of the Pace

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          We are clawing toward respectability, slowly but surely. The Artest makes his appearence in Seattle. He plays with non stop intensity, 24/7, like him or not, he rawks. This is a true test as the victory over the Cavaliers may be a little less in stature because they are on the fade, big time. But a good victory nonetheless. This is a true test and lets use the home court to our full advantage

  I kinda like the Pacers. I remember them as a kid in the ABA. Wrote a fan letter in 1974 to them proclaiming my admiration of George McGinnis. Recieved a REAL, not photo copied autograph of George, on a game program w/him on the cover! And a note from coach Bob Leonard saying thank you, and it was real! Ah, those were the days. See what you get when you send an NBA team a letter now...glad I caught the end of the old skool more fan friendly, less corporate pro sports world. I actually warmed up w/the San Diego Conquistadors of the ABA in 1975. Caught a stray ball from a warm up shot and retrieved it and Gene Moore the foul king motioned to me for a pass to him under the basket...then he kicked it back to me and I heaved about a 15 footer off the front of the rim. I did a round in the "layup line", remember that old skoolers? Hit that. Swished a free throw! Low 5's on that baybee. Old ABA teams bring me back to nostalgia, I was an ABA freak. Gotta take care of some business, be back later...GO SONICS!!!

KING of QUEENS

We beat Cleveland, yeah! But who isn't on this road trip!

CAVS IN THE KEY

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  Need to kick it up a notch to hang with this crew. Cleveland has shown they have what it takes to compete near the elite level. We are an inconsistent bunch for sure. This will show if we have some mettle. I hate playing to .500 but it is what I'm reduced to untill we can find some fluidity. But what is coming to Puget Sound is a tsunami of talent that goes much deeper than King LeBron. Below is a pic where I think he is looking around and seeing how many planets are orbiting him or if a trench coated Matrix dude will go streaking by. A league all his own and there is no cryin' in basketball, deal with him.

  Lets see what Ray can do and if Rid is gonna get in the groove and dish assists and penetrate and dish. Rashard weapon 2 must produce. Petro, parle vous swat tay?