RealGM

@

When: Friday, January 4, 2008
Where: Verizon Center
Time: 1:00 PM Eastern
TV: Comcast Sportsnet
Chat: Link
Commentators:

Lineups:

Washington Wizards (16-15)

PG - Antonio Daniels
SG - Deshawn Stevenson
SF - Caron "Tough Juice" Butler
PF - Antawn Jamison
C - Brendan Haywood








Bench: Roger Mason, Andray Blatche, Darius Songaila, Nick Young, Dominic McGuire

Injuries:
Gilbert Arenas - Knee - 3 Months
OPEC - Broken Ankle - 2-3 Weeks
Etan Thomas - Heart - Indefinite

Seattle Sonics (9-23)

PG - Earl Watson
SG - Kevin Durant
SF - Jeff Green
PF - Nick Collison
C - Kurt Thomas








Bench: Delonte West, Johan Petro, Damien Wilkins, Luke Ridnour, and Wally Z.

Injuries:
Chris Wilcox - Dislocated right finger - Indefinite
Robert Swift - Knee Tendinitis



Key Matchups:

Kevin Durant vs. Deshawn Stevenson

--Durant is the starting shooting guard for the Sonics and will have at least a 6 inch height advantage over Stevenson. Let Durant get his points, I don't see Stevenson doing an effective job defensively against him. Though, it could be interesting if Eddie could get Haywood on Durant, or have Andray guard him the majority of the night.

Kurt Thomas vs. Brendan Haywood

--Thomas usually owns us, he likes to hit that 12 foot jumper and he's a pretty good rebounder and defender, so Haywood will have his hands full. Should be a very interesting matchup to watch.

Note the special start time for Sunday's game.

A 1:00P start time for a western team has got to be killer. That's a nice advantage right off the bat. We should win, and probably win big.

I don't think Haywood on Durant would work. Durant would easily blow by Haywood on the perimeter and draw our best rebounder away from the glass. Caron should match up nicely against Durant and when he needs a rest I think DMac has the length and athleticism to hang with Durant.

Should be a somewhat easy win and hopefully D.C. goes 2-0 against Seattle this weekend.

I love Buck's picture that you have. It's such a typical anchorman-like pose.

Good job on the thread, Raf.

(Note: First line should read Sunday, January 6.)

Yeah, as I said in the last game thread, we've been doing a great job beating the teams we are supposed to beat. This game would fall under that category. Throw in the 12pm start time and we're all the more likely to win.

However, getting too confident could be a problem, especially with a team as young and explosive as Seattle.

You never know when Durant is going to go off, and they have some nice pieces who can burn you on that team.

miller31time wrote:Yeah, as I said in the last game thread, we've been doing a great job beating the teams we are supposed to beat. This game would fall under that category. Throw in the 12pm start time and we're all the more likely to win.

However, getting too confident could be a problem, especially with a team as young and explosive as Seattle.

You never know when Durant is going to go off, and they have some nice pieces who can burn you on that team.

the game's at 1pm. but yea, i agree. sometimes we tend to lose our focus or just not go into the game with intensity. the wiz gotta make sure not to take this game lightly, because even though we should win, you never know. especially with a guy like durant. we gotta shut him down.

shut down durant = win

omarvelous wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



the game's at 1pm. but yea, i agree. sometimes we tend to lose our focus or just not go into the game with intensity. the wiz gotta make sure not to take this game lightly, because even though we should win, you never know. especially with a guy like Durant. we gotta shut him down.

shut down Durant = win

Has our team come out flat in any game since AD, CB, AJ and BH have lead the way as the starters?

I don't recall seeing that happen. The coming out flat stuff I believe is something that happened in years past with different starting line ups.

I'll be there

We are beating the teams that we should beat. The Sonics are another one of those teams. We got this.


BACKBREAKER

I watched Seattle's game against Phoenix. The Sonics led 33-13 at the end of the first quarter ... but managed to lose.

They can be pretty explosive but they can't sustain the defensive effort needed to win games. They have plenty of talent, but it's young talent.

The Wizards should win handily if they play the way they played recently.

Kurt Thomas has historically killed us, but that was when we had Kwame Brown. He completely owned Kwame Brown and got into his head. I think he's going to have a little more trouble with Haywood. Haywood has so much height and length, he should be able to get that hook shot off over him.

KT has no post-up game whatsoever though. We might be better off putting Jamison on him and letting Haywood guard Collison.

The Sonics have a ton of guys from D.C. I expect they'll get a lot of cheers.

nate33 wrote:Kurt Thomas has historically killed us, but that was when we had Kwame Brown. He completely owned Kwame Brown and got into his head. I think he's going to have a little more trouble with Haywood. Haywood has so much height and length, he should be able to get that hook shot off over him.

KT has no post-up game whatsoever though. We might be better off putting Jamison on him and letting Haywood guard Collison.

Kurt Thomas would still look good as Wizards backup C/PF.

Eugh. Seattle.

You've got Durant vs. Stevenson as a key match-up, but i think that Green vs. Butler might be the deciding one.

Here's the Sonics Game Thread.
http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic. ... 9#15032849

BTW: Is there any chance we could leave Wilcox in D.C. and take Haywood with us?

Good Game Fellas.

I hope that EJ is going to give Blatche some rotation minutes instead of garbage time in the fourth.

Hoping for a good one.

Det the Threat wrote:You've got Durant vs. Stevenson as a key match-up, but i think that Green vs. Butler might be the deciding one.

Here's the Sonics Game Thread.
http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic. ... 9#15032849

BTW: Is there any chance we could leave Wilcox in D.C. and take Haywood with us?

Good Game Fellas.

No chance buddy.

Haywood has been dominating this year. He's easily a top 10 center this season, maybe top 6 or 7. His numbers don't jump out at you because he only plays 28 minutes a game, but on a per-40 basis, he averages 16 points (with a .594 TS%), 12 boards and 3 blocks while playing elite defense. There are only 6 centers in the league who have a higher PER: Duncan, Stoudemire, Howard, Yao, Bynum and Biedrins.

that picture of buckhantz cracks me up, it's his "blue steel" moment

[/img]

Det the Threat wrote:You've got Durant vs. Stevenson as a key match-up, but i think that Green vs. Butler might be the deciding one.

Here's the Sonics Game Thread.
http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic. ... 9#15032849

BTW: Is there any chance we could leave Wilcox in D.C. and take Haywood with us?

Good Game Fellas.

I think Butler can hold his own with Green. Durant's the guy, he's 6'11'' and he's playing the 2. If that's not out of the ordinary, if that's not a key matchup to watch, I don't know what is.