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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

While Sonics Keep Cruising, Knicks Struggle With Identity

Tacoma News Tribune

While the Seattle SuperSonics are rolling along with wins in nine of their past 11 games, their opponent tonight, the New York Knicks, are in discord.

The Knicks, whom the Sonics meet at Madison Square Garden, held an airing out meeting last Wednesday, following a pair of losses and critical comments by Anthony Mason about coach Don Nelson’s system.

After their loss Tuesday to Portland, Mason was quoted in New York papers as saying: “When we don’t establish an identity, you never know what the hell we’re going to do. I mean, everybody sees the difference. I don’t know what’s going on. We finally get a team that plays post-up and we play less post-up than any other game. When we play a team that doesn’t let us post-up, we try to post up all damn day. That’s the damn play calls.”

Nelson, who feuded with Chris Webber when the pair were with Golden State two seasons ago, chose not to fire back at Mason.

“People have their own opinions about everything,” he said. “We seem to get defensive about things we shouldn’t get defensive about. We’re basically running the same offense. The offensive sets have not changed.”

Karl’s nightmare

Sonics coach George Karl watched the Chicago Bulls’ impressive 100-86 victory over the two-time defending NBA champion Houston Rockets Wednesday night on TBS and it gave him nightmares.

“I saw my nightmare on TV, not being able to score against the Bulls,” he said of the stretch in which the Rockets were outscored 15-1.

“They are a great defensive team.”

The Sonics, one of only three teams to defeat the Bulls this season, meet Chicago on Wednesday at United Center.