Defense has been Sonics' undoing
By Terry Brown
NBA Insider
Wednesday, February 11
The Seattle SuperSonics have found the enemy and the enemy is, well, them.
"In practice, we're knocking each other all over the place," said guard Antonio Daniels in the Tacoma News Tribune. "We're killing each other, fouling each other, being very aggressive with each other: grabbing, throwing, everything. And then when the game comes around, we're almost lighter on the other team than we are against ourselves. We have to trust each other. When (Flip Murray) gets beat, he needs to know I'm there, and I want (Ray) Allen to know I'm there if he gets beat. We have to do that collectively as a team, and it's something we're not doing."
After Tuesday night's loss to the Golden State Warriors, the Sonics have now dropped seven of their last nine games despite scoring 98.8 points per game in that span. And that's because they're allowing the other team to score 104.4 points per game.
"We've shown at times that we can defend, but it can't be 'at times,' " head coach Nate McMillan said in the Seattle Times. "We didn't have control of any part of this game. They (Golden State) ran their sets, walking us to the post, walking us to the wing and allowing the screen to come over right where they wanted. At times we allowed them to go deeper. They walked us to wherever they wanted to offensively."
In those nine games, the Sonics have given up 940 points. To put that in perspective, the worst defensive team in the league gives up an average of 100.6, and that's the Orlando Magic, who have the worst record in the league at 13-40. But another week like this and Seattle won't be too far off from claiming that title with its 24-27 record. Currently, the Sonics give up 99.3 points per game for third worst in the league with the Mavericks at 99.9 for second.
"We're not organized on defense," said center Vitaly Potapenko. "We're not disciplined. It's as simple as that. Everybody knows we're a shooting team and we can score on offense, but the defensive end is what makes the difference between winning a game and losing a game."
“
We've been up and down this season, and when we've been down I think most of those downs have been because we haven't defended the ball. ”
— Nate McMillan
And, now, everybody knows that when the Sonics are on the schedule, it's time to boost their statistics.
Golden State was putting up about 94 points a game on the season and only 90.3 on the road. On Tuesday night, the Warriors scored 106 in Seattle. And what makes it worse is that the last time these teams played on Jan. 22, the Sonics held them to 87 points and won by 16.
"It's a bad loss," Daniels said. "But you can't look at it like, 'Is this a low point?' because we play again on Thursday."
Well, what happened last Thursday or last Tuesday or the Tuesday before that?
That's when this whole streak started with a 118-116 loss to the Mavericks in Seattle. Sure, the Mavs can score a lot of points, but on the road even they average 99.5, which is nowhere close to 118.
The Sonics also gave up 110 points to Sacramento that week, also in Seattle, and then 117 to the Kings in Arco Arena the next week.
In between, they did beat the Bulls but still surrendered 97 points to a team that scores only 89.4 a game. In their only other win during this streak, they gave up 105 points to the Suns, who score only 93.4 a game.
"You've got to defend, and you've got to take care of the ball," said McMillan in the Tribune. "You've got to commit to defending if you want a shot at winning games. We've been up and down this season, and when we've been down I think most of those downs have been because we haven't defended the ball."
In all, the Sonics have given up 940 points to nine teams that average 869.7. That's 70.3 more points than usual. That's 7.8 points per game during this streak. That's got to be impossibly frustrating for a team that just lost seven of nine games by an average of 5.6 points.
In their 24 wins this year, the Sonics have given up an average of 94.6 points per game. In their 27 losses, they've given up 103.5.
"We've just got to be better defensively is what it comes around to," Daniels said. "That's it, plain and simple; if we want to be successful, if we want to make the playoffs, if we want to win the games we should win. When March comes around and we go to San Antonio and Dallas and Los Angeles and Houston, we want to make sure that we're at a defensive level where we should be, playing playoff basketball by that time."
By Terry Brown
NBA Insider
Wednesday, February 11
The Seattle SuperSonics have found the enemy and the enemy is, well, them.
"In practice, we're knocking each other all over the place," said guard Antonio Daniels in the Tacoma News Tribune. "We're killing each other, fouling each other, being very aggressive with each other: grabbing, throwing, everything. And then when the game comes around, we're almost lighter on the other team than we are against ourselves. We have to trust each other. When (Flip Murray) gets beat, he needs to know I'm there, and I want (Ray) Allen to know I'm there if he gets beat. We have to do that collectively as a team, and it's something we're not doing."
After Tuesday night's loss to the Golden State Warriors, the Sonics have now dropped seven of their last nine games despite scoring 98.8 points per game in that span. And that's because they're allowing the other team to score 104.4 points per game.
"We've shown at times that we can defend, but it can't be 'at times,' " head coach Nate McMillan said in the Seattle Times. "We didn't have control of any part of this game. They (Golden State) ran their sets, walking us to the post, walking us to the wing and allowing the screen to come over right where they wanted. At times we allowed them to go deeper. They walked us to wherever they wanted to offensively."
In those nine games, the Sonics have given up 940 points. To put that in perspective, the worst defensive team in the league gives up an average of 100.6, and that's the Orlando Magic, who have the worst record in the league at 13-40. But another week like this and Seattle won't be too far off from claiming that title with its 24-27 record. Currently, the Sonics give up 99.3 points per game for third worst in the league with the Mavericks at 99.9 for second.
"We're not organized on defense," said center Vitaly Potapenko. "We're not disciplined. It's as simple as that. Everybody knows we're a shooting team and we can score on offense, but the defensive end is what makes the difference between winning a game and losing a game."
“
We've been up and down this season, and when we've been down I think most of those downs have been because we haven't defended the ball. ”
— Nate McMillan
And, now, everybody knows that when the Sonics are on the schedule, it's time to boost their statistics.
Golden State was putting up about 94 points a game on the season and only 90.3 on the road. On Tuesday night, the Warriors scored 106 in Seattle. And what makes it worse is that the last time these teams played on Jan. 22, the Sonics held them to 87 points and won by 16.
"It's a bad loss," Daniels said. "But you can't look at it like, 'Is this a low point?' because we play again on Thursday."
Well, what happened last Thursday or last Tuesday or the Tuesday before that?
That's when this whole streak started with a 118-116 loss to the Mavericks in Seattle. Sure, the Mavs can score a lot of points, but on the road even they average 99.5, which is nowhere close to 118.
The Sonics also gave up 110 points to Sacramento that week, also in Seattle, and then 117 to the Kings in Arco Arena the next week.
In between, they did beat the Bulls but still surrendered 97 points to a team that scores only 89.4 a game. In their only other win during this streak, they gave up 105 points to the Suns, who score only 93.4 a game.
"You've got to defend, and you've got to take care of the ball," said McMillan in the Tribune. "You've got to commit to defending if you want a shot at winning games. We've been up and down this season, and when we've been down I think most of those downs have been because we haven't defended the ball."
In all, the Sonics have given up 940 points to nine teams that average 869.7. That's 70.3 more points than usual. That's 7.8 points per game during this streak. That's got to be impossibly frustrating for a team that just lost seven of nine games by an average of 5.6 points.
In their 24 wins this year, the Sonics have given up an average of 94.6 points per game. In their 27 losses, they've given up 103.5.
"We've just got to be better defensively is what it comes around to," Daniels said. "That's it, plain and simple; if we want to be successful, if we want to make the playoffs, if we want to win the games we should win. When March comes around and we go to San Antonio and Dallas and Los Angeles and Houston, we want to make sure that we're at a defensive level where we should be, playing playoff basketball by that time."
