Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

[vinaa23]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

^Yes, Teddy will end up down the line being in a role with the Sonics.

Oh of course he will. He will be the new starting point guard some years from now hahahahahaha

[trekfan]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

Oh of course he will. He will be the new starting point guard some years from now hahahahahaha

I'm not saying he will.

And I'm not saying he won't.

[JackNCoke]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

Killer post. Congrats Max. Let's get another win against evil Clay. Is it bad I picture that he has a hundred little Clay Aikens as his little personal army?

[trekfan]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

Killer post. Congrats Max. Let's get another win against evil Clay. Is it bad I picture that he has a hundred little Clay Aikens as his little personal army?

^No, not at all. I approve this post.

[trekfan]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return



Seattle came into the game having just lost an OT affair against the Nuggets, playing their second game of a back-to-back. They were without RHJ, their best defender, and tired. Despite all that, this game resembled the first meeting of these squads. OKC, once more, stepped into the hostile territory of the PAC, where the crowd was raucous. These two teams haven't seen on another since November, but it didn't stop Seattle from playing their game (despite not having RHJ out there).

The Sonics went on an early run, going 7-0 in the early minutes of the 1st quarter, flustering the Thunder players. They were ballhawks, they were blankets on defense, and they let one Russell Westbrook unleash early. Westbrook was the steam in the Sonics engine tonight, jet fueled rage in a bottle as burst all over the Thunder. He dunked, he dished, and he was aggressive all night.

OKC didn't have an early answer for him except to double team him and force him to pass earlier than he liked; that strategy paid early dividends as the Thunder were able to halt the Sonics run, get a little on for themselves, and close the gap. By the end of the 1st, thanks to Kevin Durant and a heavy helping of fouls on Noel (forcing the Sonics to go to Gortat early), the Thunder were only trailing 30-27 at the end of one.

But then the Sonics super-subs came in. Tonight's regular rotation leader? Russell Westbrook. The Thunder chose to leave Durant out there to pick on Jeff Taylor, the last true SF the Sonics have on the roster. The strategy was sound on paper, but poor in execution as the Thunder just couldn't stay in front of Westbrook. Pitted against Patty Mills, Russell demolished the former-Spurs guard repeatedly. With Gortat and Lin out there with him, the Sonics offense shifted to one that ran half-court sets and slowed the pace.

The Thunder went down big and Durant was subbed out. Seattle took a 63-48 lead into the half. Westbrook was on fire and feeling it, so the Sonics kept feeding him. Despite Noel being in foul trouble all night long (eventually fouling out halfway through the fourth), the Sonics continued to run flawlessly. Malik Newman was a monster shooting the ball, Gortat was schooling fools in the post again, and J-Lin was passing the ball like he does.

OKC was steamrolled and, midway through the fourth, Westbrook grabbed the rebound that gave him the triple-double, much to the chagrin of OKC (you could see how pissed Durant was). The crowd roared, Russell fed off that, and the Sonics pushed harder.

"It was special," said Westbrook after the game, a smile on his face. "I mean, guys here gave me the chance to do it. They really were pulling for me to do it, kept telling me to do it, and that support, that teamwork, is one of the reasons why I came. I'll remember this one."








Around the NBA

The Hawks, now 18-20, have lost Rudy Gobert for 4-6 weeks with a bad ankle sprain, forcing them to play Mike Muscla at the five. The Hawks were on a two-game win streak up to this point and face the Spurs next, where they'll miss Gobert's paint-patrol for sure.

Speaking of the Spurs, they're now 15-22! The wheels are coming off in SA and fans, usually among the most patient in the league, are calling for the front office to do SOMETHING. San Antonio seems content to do nothing: indications from the players, the coaches, and ownership all say they're committed to riding this out and addressing any issues in the offseason. Is this some sort of stealth-tank job or do the Spurs know something we don't? (Let's face it, it's probably the latter option).

Contract extensions are beginning to come down and the T'Wolves have locked in Zach LaVine to a 3yr/$31M deal. Lavine is having a good season, his first as a full-time starter, averaging 12.1 PPG with 3.6 RPG and 6.0 APG on 42 percent shooting, 45 percent from deep. LaVine's offense is truly something to behold, but the Wolves are only 17-21 -- they've won 3 of 4 since trading Shabazz, but their hole seems to only grow.

[studbucket]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

What a game by Westbrook! In the highlight at 1:00...what was Morrow doing? Not gonna win if you surround Durant with guys like that.

[trekfan]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return



January 19th, 2018

The morning was quiet, the sun out, the chill not quite so biting, and it was just ... peaceful. Not quite silence, but certainly more relaxing than he had felt in over a month. Wordlessly, he passed the tall thermos of coffee to his brother.

Gill stuck the fishing pole between his legs and sipped out of the thermos, making a face. "Black?"

"I felt bold this morning." Max smirked. "I thought you liked it black?"

"I do. But with just a hint of sugar." He shrugged and closed the thermos, setting it down between the two of them. "So, you're getting married."

Max nodded, turning his attention back to the small creek. It was an old family spot that, frankly, had been fished out years before. There had been hardly anything in it for over a decade, but they both came here together anyway when they could.

Fishing was one of the few things they could agree on. "I'm not really worried about the wedding," he admitted.

"You do have some sense after all." Gill let out a sigh. "Pregnant women are dangerous, don't underestimate them."

Max laughed at that. "I don't plan to." He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to get the right words out there. "I just want to make sure I'm going about it the right way."

"You love her." Gill shot him a glare. "Don't deny it, either, it's so plain you might as well have a neon sign flashing over your head."

"Is that enough?" It was the question that had been haunting him since that night. He reeled his line in and then cast it again, the movement relaxing. "I mean ... I do love her. I'd take a bullet for her, throw myself into the maw of a giant, pointy machine if I had to."

Gill sipped from the thermos again. "Well, that's vivid enough."

Max rolled his eyes. "You get the point."

"Yeah, and the point is that you're right. You're okay here." Gill put his hand on Max's shoulder, giving it a firm grip. "You're gonna be a great dad."

"I ... maybe?" Max felt his emotions begin to get the best of him and took a steadying breath.

Gill chuckled. "It's okay, that's exactly how it feels."

"Is that how you felt?"

Gill's eyes grew a bit wistful. "When Laura told me, I thought ... I thought a lot of things." He shook his head. "Guilty. Wrong. I was an addict, so was she technically, we were both in AA ... and yet, we found strength in one another." He leaned back slightly, a smile forming. "Hell, she was the strong one. I fell for her pretty hard after hearing all the *hit she went through before she ended up in AA with me. But when she got pregnant, she was straight with me: she wanted the baby. She wanted to give something to the world that was more than just her issues, her problems ... she wanted to do something good." He blinked away a half-tear. "And she wanted me to be there. When she told me that, when she said it that way ... I felt like I could conquer the world. Scared as hell, but cocky."

Max laughed, nodding. "Yeah, that's ... that's pretty much it. I know I can do it, but it's just ... I don't know. I'm Max, you know? Someone's going to call me 'Dad' now?"

"You could go for 'Papa' or 'Paw' if you really wanted to go old-school."

Max snorted. "Like Grandpa? He could never get us to call him 'Paw'. He hated being called 'Grandpa'."

"You remember what Dad used to call him?"

Max thought about it for a moment, but couldn't come up with anything. "No, not really."

Gill grinned. "'OL' AKA 'Old Leather'."

"That's what 'OL' meant?!" Max stared at him. "I thought it was his initials!"

"His first name was Otis -- God, what a horrible name -- but there was no 'L' anywhere else." Gill shook his head. "If Teddy ever calls me anything like that, you have my permission to beat him senselessly."

Max smiled. "Well, if my kid ever calls me something like that, you can do the same to them."

The two brothers stared at one another for just a moment.

And then burst out laughing.

[BlindSideNZ]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

Absolutely beautiful! It's great reading scenes like this. Getting into the psyche of the character can't help but feel a sense of attachment. Makes me want the best for them lol.

[AdamJones113]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

Good stuff trek, as usual. Been following silently but that was well-written to the point where I felt the need to give you a thumbs up.

[trekfan]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

Must apologize for the lack of updates of late, been swamped at work. Will try to get back to this sometime this week. As always, thanks for keeping the faith.

[JazzMan]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

I'm in the same boat. Picking up Fallout 4 hasn't helped either lol

[trekfan]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return



Well, that was TOO close for comfort. Everyone take a hit from your favorite bong and chill the *uck out.

Everyone good now? All right. Let's do this. We'll start first with the obvious -- that score. 125-123 doesn't even begin to describe how close this game was to going to OT or, worse yet, the Thunder hitting a triple at the end to take the game. Seattle struggled all night long with their free throw shooting, going an abysmal 12-24 as a team (which, believe it or not, was way better than the first half, where they went just 2-8 from the line). That nearly sunk the Sonics.

But not quite. Seattle and OKC traded blows, back and forth, all night. No team got out to a lead bigger than 9 points and those leads barely lasted a minute before the other team hit a shot to get right back in it. The energy in the building was crackling -- the crowd was way, way into it. They wanted blood. It was Westbrook's first game back in OKC and the fans didn't give him any sort of standing ovation or even a respectful golf-clap.

They rained down boos, hurled insults, and were generally just as angry as they could be. And their hero (and Seattle's former savior) Kevin Durant was the embodiment of all that rage. An entire offseason full of anger was unleashed in a fury of triples as the reigning MVP was lights out from beyond. Durant put on a show, finishing the first half with 22 points and finishing the game with a statline of 41 points and 6 boards on 16-25 shooting, 4-6 from deep.

And, for the first time all season against the Sonics, the other Thunder players stepped up to help. Oladipo finished with 18 points and 7 assists on 8-16 shooting, 2-3 from beyond -- the third quarter was his. The fourth quarter was Kanter's, who absolutely dominated Noel inside. He wiggled, he danced, and he shot around Nerlens and scored 11 of his 17 points in the quarter.

Coach Hollins subbed out Nerlens and sat him on the bench for the last three minutes of the fourth and sent in the Polish Hammer. Gortat had been having a monster game himself off the bench, with 13 points up to that point. With the lead being traded back and forth between the teams, someone had to step up and close things out. Westbrook tried and nearly succeeded, but Durant one upped him with a rage-fueled crossover (sending Lance to the ground) and a dunk, which cut the lead to two and set up the Sonics with a possession with 35.2 seconds left to go in the game.

Whatever happened, barring a bad bounce, OKC would end up with the final possession of the game. If they could deny Seattle a good shot and get the ball to Durant, it was a good bet KD would've sunk whatever shot he took and, at the very least, tied it. If this game had seen OT, I guarantee you the Thunder would have won: that homecourt smelled blood and they wanted it.

The Sonics didn't even call a timeout, they gave the ball to Westbrook, who calmly strolled up court and watched his teammates set up. He read the defense, watched the shotclock tick to under 12 seconds, then called Gortat for a pick.

The Thunder instantly double-teamed Westbrook, but Gortat was free. Westbrook delivered a beauty of a bounce to a streaking Gortat, who avoided the inside defense and instead lofted up a running layup. It circled around the rim briefly before dropping in with under 17 seconds to go.

The Polish Hammer had struck again.

124-120 was the lead. The Thunder got the ball back, took it up court, forced a shot, missed, then watched as Lance got the rebound. They fouled him. He hit one, missed another, then the Thunder advanced the ball up court, took a deep three with Ibaka and hit it, but it didn't matter. The game was over.

Thank God there's no 5pt shot in basketball.

Westbrook was named player of the game (unsurprisingly) but the real hero is Gortat, who once more showed how lethal a weapon he is off the bench and how, for many teams around the league, he'd be starting. But the veteran is thriving as a semi-starter and ultra-sixth man. There should be some concern with how Noel played (tentatively in this game -- he just looked soft tonight and that's not a word associated with Nerlens Noel ever), but there's time enough to over-analyze later.








Around the NBA

The Knicks aren't looking great. The trades for Payton, Hill, and Covington looked good initially but it's been a bit of a rough stretch. They're sitting at 21-23, barely out of the playoffs (sitting 9th), and have won two straight, but the fit with everyone looks awkward and, it seems, that Phil Jackson may soon be looking to move on. Rumors are swirling out of NYC that the Knicks are facing an internal power struggle as James Dolan -- yes, the owner -- is seeing the success Seattle and Charlotte are having with their owners in charge of basketball decisions, and is pushing to have his voice carry that kind of weight. So far, the Knicks FO has rebuffed those overtures, albeit kindly, but if Dolan takes over (and, let's face it, the Knicks offseason and recent trade seems to indicate he has wrestled some control from the FO), then we could be in for a long, long down-turn in NYC.

Speaking of the Hornets, they sit at 27-15 and at the top of the East, still. It's the defense that's doing it (holding opponents to only 86.7 PPG) and that's a big testament to the growth of the players and their new coaching staff. It's pretty incredible and, if Charlotte can maintain this, they should easily make the playoffs.

[BlindSideNZ]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

Very glad you are back my friend, and what a way to pick the series back up. Must have been an absolute thriller of a game. I know all about free throw line struggles and there is nothing really quite as frustrating.

Durant must be loving all the extra touches he gets now without Russ but what a great game for the both of them.

Looking forward to seeing what the rest of the season brings.

[trekfan]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

Very glad you are back my friend, and what a way to pick the series back up. Must have been an absolute thriller of a game. I know all about free throw line struggles and there is nothing really quite as frustrating.

Durant must be loving all the extra touches he gets now without Russ but what a great game for the both of them.

Looking forward to seeing what the rest of the season brings.

We are fast approaching my deadline and there look to be some deals on the horizon, albeit no giant ones. The rest of the season should be good -- this game was far too close. I thought I had blown it with under six to go, it just looked to be getting away from me, but the team really stepped up big time.

Gortat continues to be my savior in late game situations. Noel worries me, but it's his first season as a center in two years, so he's out of touch and not getting the same looks he used to. Hoping he has a strong post-ASB but we'll see how it pans out.

[trekfan]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

Wanted to do something a bit different, so decided to make some GIFs of the various goings on within the games themselves. Best scenes are usually during timeouts, oddly enough. Here's one of Westbrook doing his guns thing.

(Still a work in progress, sorry it's on the smallish side but Photoshop apparently has issues importing the larger file, so I had to shrink it down. We'll see if I can find away around that -- or perhaps some non-crappy online alternative.)



(Since I have a ton of footage over the past 2.5 seasons, I want to grab some of Ray Allen and Jamal Crawford too. Then bust them out accordingly in the recaps when the situation calls for it.)