Hov's Kings - Retired

[Lamrock]

Losing to the Wolves? Not the best start to the season. May have to steal the Headlines feature...

[buzzy]

Tough loss. Not trying to offend you in anyway, but you might be better off starting with Pro. All-Star isn't the same as it was last year.

Anyway, Reke was beastin scoring wise. Hoping to see more Cousins minutes.

May have to steal the Headlines feature...

Yeah, I like that.

Also, tone down the sharpening on your pics.

[kibaxx7]

Looking good Hov, I like it. Love killed you, but Tyreke was a monster.

[The X]

The X, thx for the critique, I changed the recap a bit and find it better (especially the fonts). I used some old graphics from my Cats one as I like them very much.

Just those little changes you made to the body of the recap & fonts (no bold) make it look a lot better, cleaner & more professional

[Fresh8]

Nice season opener. Like the recap. I hope this one will last a while.

[Mark.]

Sonics Jersey's look mean dude. Cool choice of team

[hova-]

Omri Casspi and Francisco Garcia gave the Sonics a scoring boost just when they needed it.

Small Forwards lead Sonics to first win after two years of NBA drought
By Carl Column, NBA.com
Posted on October 31st 2010 8:50PM

It took the Seattle Supersonics two years to get back in the league, but after the release of the league's schedule nobody thought it would take them three games to get the first W of the season.

Sure, it's never easy to go on a three game road trip at the beginning of a season, but the Wolves, Nets and Cavs did not really sound like a big problem for the former Kings now Sonics.

Things came different as the Sonics not only lost their first game against the Wolves (and Omri Casspi with a knee injury), they also failed to deliver in their second game getting blown out by 30 points ... by the ... Nets! Things turned out to be bad before the game when Francisco Garcia also had to check out after a swelling appearing on his right knee, just like Casspi.

"It's tough to be without you're two budgetary wing players and although Antoine (Wright) did his best to compensate their losses, I think on offense, we were just missing them too much", Coach Hova said afterwards.

The Sonics hung into the game until late in the third being only down by 3, but the Nets managed to deliver a big run winning the last quarter 44-16 and grabbing their second win of the season. Devin Harris had 19 points and 9 assists and Derrick Favors showed some payback to Demarcus Cousins as he posted 16 and 11, letting his stats talk for him after some major trash talking by Cousins.

Cousins told media before the game that he doesn't understand how any franchise could pick Favors over him. "I dominated guys on college, he did not. I don't see how he has more potential than me. Everyone knows I'm the baddest [expletive] in here", Cousins said after arriving in New Jersey. Bad enough, he only scored two points in 22 minutes, blocked two shots but also turned the ball over twice.

Cousins also fouled Favors hard in the middle of the game, but the latter didn't allow the Sonics center to get into his head. "Let's talk about something that matters ... let's talk about us blowing out the Sonics", Favors said after the game.


Favors leads the battle of the big man rivals after three games played.
Small Forwards keys to Sonics first success

Once again, a monster outing by Tyreke Evans could not bring the Sonics a win as he scored 29 and added 5 rebounds and 6 assists against New Jersey.
But with Casspi and Garcia back in the lineup, the Sonics were finally able to grab their first win against the LeBron-less Cavs.

Evans scored 25 points and had 4 rebounds and 5 assists in Cleveland, but the main reason for the Sonics' win was Casspi's and also regenerated Garcia's performances who helped the Sonics to shoot .500% from the floor for the first time of the season. Casspi scored 21 points on 8-14 shooting (3-5 from downtown) and grabbed 6 rebounds while Garcia had 9 points in 16 minutes off the bench. It seems like the two shooting forwards really complement go-to-guy Evans' driving game.

The Sonics led by 15 after three and managed to grab a win before playing their home opener against the Toronto Raptors. Demarcus Cousins was able to bounce back from his Nets performance as he posted 10 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks in 23 minutes and shot 5-7 from the field.

The Cavs never looked like they could beat the Sonics and were outrebounded 38-47. Mo Williams and Antawn Jamison scored 15 each but shot horribly from the floor as the Cavs fell to 0-3.



Durant takes Player of the week West as he scores 44 vs Pistons ...
Dwyane Wade out for 4-6 weeks with a broken hand ...
Bosh scores season high 48 in W against Magic ...
Pacers surprising 3-0 start earns Granger player of the week ...


Check Sonics stats and League Standings here ...

[kibaxx7]

Head-to-Head, sweet idea Blown out by 30 by NJ... that gotta sucks.

[Martti.]

Rough start so far, beating the Cavs was a must. My 'Tyreke an All-star' looks reachable, he has been amazing so far.

[Lamrock]

Head to head is an awesome idea, though that font's a bit hard on the eyes. Poor start to the season, but at least you beat the Cavs. Underwhelming play from ROY DMC so far, but 3.5 BP36 is pretty impressive.

Really like your recapping style. Similar to mine in that there's less emphasis on (boring) individual game recaps, but far better done. Keep it up.

[hova-]

Thierry., thx, thought it would be cool to have a look at the career of these guys as they are the two decent bigs in this year's draft.

Martti., yes Evans is really playing well. It's so cool that 2k finally has a pull up jumper/mid-range game. Combined with his handling, he's a beast.

Lamrock, I changed the fonts as I did not like it either ... tough to read. Cousins had a sick block against the Cavs swatting Sideshow Bobs shot attempt (if you can call it an attempt rather than simple desperation) against the glass. He's a nice player, but limited to his game 5 feet around the rim ...

[dare]

Finally a win, sucks that you loss against the Nets though. Cousins is really struggling in your game.

[deihatein]

Loving the team choice (since I use the Kings in my association), Evans is fun to use and Cousins is a beast inside.

[Justine.]

Nice win. Loving the head to head feature too. Wonder how you do to use the Sonics uniform while the roster is the Kings? Are your court is the Key Arena too?

[Houndy]

Nice win. Loving the head to head feature too. Wonder how you do to use the Sonics uniform while the roster is the Kings? Are your court is the Key Arena too?

Easy, you just trade the King players with the Sonic players and BOOM, you have it with the Sonics and Key Arena.

[.PorkyJoker.o6]

Congratz On Your 1st Win!!
Sure do i love your headlines. good job!!

[Fresh8]

To Lamrock: I have thought of using headlines before especially for during the playoffs but I felt I couldn't present it the way I wanted to.

Hov: I love it. Still waiting on the next update. So hurry up and post it

[hova-]

Qou Vadis, Seattle? Without borderline All-Star Tyreke Evans, the Sonics keep struggling.

Sonics home opener turns into nightmare
Sonicsfan88 for Sonics.com
Posted on November 11th 2010 12:13PM

The Sonics' home debut did not turn out like fans, responsibles and players were hoping before the game. A win was definitely expected in the W/L column after the game against the rebuilding Raptors who were by many experts ranked as the worst team in the league after their franchise player left them in the lurch. The completely renovated Key Arena was sold out and fans were cheering before the game.

What happened then was simple and plain bad luck and dissapointing. In the middle of the first quarter Francisco Garcia fell down after an shot attempt from beyond the arc and kept lying on the floor until being helped from the court.

"The muscle simply cramped, I couldn't move and stand up by myself", the 6-year veteran out of Lousville said later. He only played one minute before leaving with back spasms which will cause him to miss another two weeks.

But things became worse. The Raptors led by seven after three when Tyreke Evans started one of his inimitable drives to the basket. He was fouled and came down akwardly. Evans had to leave the floor and did not return, sustaining an injury which was later diagnosed as a strained achilles tendon. The Sonics' go-to-guy who had already burned 16 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, two steals and a block in the stat sheet against the Raptors will miss the next 4-6 weeks.

Despite 25 points and 8 rebounds from Carl Landry and 21/11 from Omri Casspi, the Sonics could not grab a win against the Raptors, who ran away with the 99-87 road win.

"We played absolutely turrible", Raptors GM Liam Washburn said afterwards. "Still we won, thanks to An_rea Bargnani and Leandro (Barbosa)". The duo combined for 49 of their 99 points and Bargnani grabbed a career-high 18 boards, all on the defensive end as the Sonics shot 40% from the field.

Wrong place, wrong time, LA@SEA

After loosing against the (C)raptors and loosing their go-to-guy as well as their sixth man, things became even worse as the current World Champion came to Seattle. The only fact causing hopes was that Kobe Bryant also suffered a bruised hip the game before against the Grizzlies, but the Lakers won by 30 and he only logged in 26 minutes, so he decided to give it a shot against the Sonics.

"You will never stop Kobe Bryant, I think you could tape his fingers together and he would still be able to score 20 points", Phil Jackson said before the game and his appraisement wasn't that wrong.

Bryant scored 23 points in 33 minutes and despite Pau Gasol's foul trouble the Lakers were able to come away with a 93-81 win thanks to Seattle's poor offense and good performances by Andrew Bynum (15/12) and Lamar Odom (15/7). Omri Casspi had once again a convincing outing as he went for 26 points and 7 rebounds but shot only 1-6 from downtown. Beno Udrih added 21 points and 7 assists but the Sonics offense often seemed to predictable without Evans' leading hand.

Just when everyone thought, things could fall completely apart, the Sonics finally managed to transform their decent defense (hey, we held the Lakers to 93 points!) into a W. Behind 14 points and 13 rebounds by Carl Landry (who turned out to be the best replacement for Evans on offense, read more below), the Sonics beat a baffled Grizzlies squad 86-75.
Memphis shot just 23-71 and Rudy Gay scored only 6 points. Demarcus Cousins had the first double double of his career with 14 points and 13 boards.

Failing to build a streak against the Timberwolves

But happiness did not last too long for the Sonics. Trying to build a streak in the last game of their home stand, they lost their second game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Again the Sonics only scored 91 points and this time Kevin Love was not a factor for the Wolves as he went down with a severe level two or three ankle sprain in the first quarter. But the Sonics just do not have what it takes to end a game in strong fashion.

"Our clutch ability is about to zero without Tyreke (Evans)", Coach Hova said after the loss. "We have a young team, but he can already shoulder the load in the fourth when it counts most".

But the Sonics Coach had no reason to moan about a replacement for Evans as Carl Landry stepped up having one of the best games of his career. The 4-year pro had a career-high 20 rebounds (17 defensive boards) and also dished out a career-high 8 assists as he scored 23 points flirting with a triple-double. He also added 2 blocks.
Omri Casspi added 23 points and 3-5 from downtown and Beno Udrih had 15 points and 8 assists but the Wolves outlasted the Sonics winning the fourth 29-19 and the game 99-91. Five guys were in double figures for Minnesota led by Corey Brewer's 22 points.

So what else to say? Our Sonics went 1-3 on their first home game streak and lost Tyreke Evans to an achilles injury. Without 'reke our chances are very limited, so let's hope he will be back soon. But we should be glad to see others stepping up like last season's acquisition Carl Landry. Big Carl is averaging 18.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists and a block over the last four games.

So thanks to injuries, we stand at 2-5 now. But our Sonics aren't the only team struggling with big injuries.


D-Will, Mamba and Flash are among stars injured in the NBA right now
Star injuries haunt not only the Sonics

Injuries are a problem right now for many NBA franchises. One team who had to take a big hit are the Utah Jazz. Deron Williams broke his 5th vortex causing him to miss at least 5 weeks. Williams was so far averaging 17 points and 7 assists for the revamped Jazz who dropped 5 of their 6 games without D-Will and stand at 4-5 right now. The front office quickly reacted and signed guard Larry Hughes for the veteran's minimum for one year.

Kobe Bryant is lucky that his team mates managed to pick up the slack helping him to play reduced minutes as he suffered a hip injury after a collision with Grizzlies forward Sam Young. The black Mamba still scored over 20 points in his last three games for the Lakers, who lead the Pacific Division with a 7-2 record.

The Minnesota Timberwolves will have to sit out Kevin Love for the next two weeks after he sprained his ankle coming down akwardly after a rebound battle with the Sonics' Carl Landry. The T-Wolves still managed to grab their fourth win (4-6 now).

The Heat already lost Dwyane Wade a week ago but were able to replace his scoring by pounding the ball down-low to Chris Bosh who scored a career-high 54 points against Minnesota just a week after dropping 48 points. The Heat are third in the East with 6-3 right now as Wade will miss another 2-3 weeks.



Thunderstorm! OKC goes 8-0 ...
Spurs add Rafer Alston to their roster ...
Bulls interested in JR Smith? ...
Michael Finley signs with OKC Thunder ...
Pistons scored season low 59 points in loss vs Portland


Check Sonics stats and League Standings here ...

[Mark.]

Gutted to lose Reke, it will add some adversity to the story though which is cool.

[The X]

Liking the photoshop jagged pics

Sucks to lose Evans. You can now see what it is like with a team on the level of the T'wolves

[|)e8*]

Tough losses! Nice Lamrock reference!

[Fresh8]

Sad to see our lil cousins losing. But you will start getting some wins man! Love the presentation. Top notch!

[Martti.]

This looks excellent now.

Bosh has really stepped up with Miami's main man out.

[hova-]

Mark., well I think we weren't that good before, but now it's simply impossible to pull out as many wins as expected. Evans is an All-Star, I'm sure he will be if he can shake off that injury. You never like to miss an All-Star, but you're right that it adds some extra flavour, getting others involved.

The X, glad you like the pics. I want to try different things on the lay-out and it's been some fun. Without 'reke I guess we are pretty equal to your Wolves

De8, thx man, thought I might rip him off a bit, at least he pulled out the victory.

Sit, you're calling them cousins from a stealth standpoint? As a Laker, I doubt you would have problems with the ex-Queens loosing Without Evans, I doubt we will grab many wins, Garcia's also missing. Glad you like my style

Martti., thanks man. Yeah Bosh is wicked ... third place in scoring with around 30. But LeBron is still putting up about 27/7/7 iirc, so he's shouldering the team, too.


So my next post will be an article about a player/team. Since I don't know who I should write about, I let you vote until tomorrow. Here's my list:

Omri Casspi
OKC Thunder/Kevin Durant (8-0 record)
LA Clippers (1-9 record)
Lance Meredith (who's that?)
John Wall

[Fresh8]

Of course I'm talking from a Stealth standpoint. If I ever go for Queens in real life, gotta kill myself.

And I vote for Will Sit. ummm... Omri Caspi