Sonics slip past Cavs
SEATTLE – Bob Hill doesn’t like to play a zone defense. Yet it was the perfect answer Tuesday night to slow the best team in the Eastern Conference.
Ray Allen led Seattle with 22 points and dished out 11 assists, but it was a surprising zone defense and the hustle of Nick Collison and Chris Wilcox that keyed the SuperSonics 101-96 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Sick and unable to coach last Wednesday against Miami, Hill watched from home as Dwyane Wade scored 14 points in the fourth quarter of a Seattle loss. It was then that Hill decided the Sonics needed a zone defense to survive with their lack of size on the interior.
It worked perfectly against Cleveland.
“We’re going to use it more and more,” Hill said. “I’m not a big advocate of zone, but under these circumstances we put one it and it certainly helped us.”
LeBron James led Cleveland with 30 points, and made 13 of 15 free throws. But James missed all four of his attempts in the fourth quarter and shot only 8 of 21 overall in part because easy baskets at the rim weren’t available.
Seattle’s zone brought Cleveland’s aggressive attack-the-basket offense to a stand still, and the Cavaliers became an average jump-shooting team. Cleveland shot just 41 percent and made only three 3-pointers.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 24 points with 11 rebounds, but scored 16 in the first half and Seattle’s inability to slow Ilgauskas finally caused Hill to make the defensive switch. It worked as Cleveland scored just 14 points in the paint in the second half.
“Their zone, the way they played it, as much of a time period as they played it, I think affected us at times,” James said. “You’ve got to try to look to attack it sometimes, but they had three guards up and sometimes one big up so it was kind of tough to penetrate.”
The surprising zone, combined with an unlikely trio of Collison, Wilcox and rookie Mickael Gelabale making big plays in the closing minutes gave Seattle it’s second straight impressive win.
Sonics 101, Cavaliers 96
| FG | FT | Reb | |||||
| CLEVELAND | Min | M-A | M-A | O-T | A | PF | PTS |
| James | 43:34 | 8-21 | 13-15 | 1-7 | 8 | 0 | 30 |
| Gooden | 28:49 | 5-10 | 2-2 | 4-8 | 1 | 2 | 12 |
| Ilgauskas | 35:31 | 10-18 | 4-4 | 6-11 | 0 | 2 | 24 |
| Hughes | 36:18 | 2-9 | 3-3 | 0-5 | 6 | 5 | 7 |
| Snow | 34:20 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 0-1 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| DaJones | 22:16 | 3-9 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| Varejao | 17:32 | 2-3 | 3-6 | 0-3 | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| Pavlovic | 7:34 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Marshall | 14:07 | 1-5 | 3-3 | 1-2 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Totals | 240:01 | 32-78 | 29-36 | 12-39 | 19 | 21 | 96 |
Percentages: FG .410, FT .806. 3-Point Goals: 3-18, .167 (Da.Jones 2-8, James 1-7, Marshall 0-1, Hughes 0-2). Team Rebounds: 13. Team Turnovers: 12 (12 PTS). Blocked Shots: 1 (James). Turnovers: 11 (James 4, Snow 3, Gooden, Ilgauskas, Da.Jones, Pavlovic). Steals: 5 (James 2, Hughes, Ilgauskas, Snow). Technical Fouls: Defensive Three Second, 1:12 second.
| FG | FT | Reb | |||||
| SEATTLE | Min | M-A | M-A | O-T | A | PF | PTS |
| Gelabale | 25:08 | 4-8 | 1-2 | 1-4 | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| Wilcox | 34:59 | 5-10 | 6-6 | 3-12 | 0 | 4 | 16 |
| Collison | 29:52 | 4-9 | 6-6 | 6-12 | 0 | 5 | 14 |
| Allen | 43:55 | 6-21 | 8-8 | 0-4 | 11 | 0 | 22 |
| Watson | 28:09 | 4-8 | 2-2 | 0-1 | 7 | 2 | 12 |
| Wilkins | 22:52 | 0-6 | 2-2 | 0-4 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Ridnour | 23:56 | 4-7 | 2-4 | 0-3 | 2 | 3 | 11 |
| Petro | 16:12 | 3-7 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| ABrown | 14:57 | 4-5 | 1-2 | 4-5 | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| Totals | 240:00 | 34-81 | 28-32 | 14-46 | 22 | 25 | 101 |
Percentages: FG .420, FT .875. 3-Point Goals: 5-19, .263 (Watson 2-4, Allen 2-10, Ridnour 1-2, Gelabale 0-1, Wilkins 0-2). Team Rebounds: 6. Team Turnovers: 13 (11 PTS). Blocked Shots: 1 (Gelabale). Turnovers: 12 (Allen 4, Collison 2, Watson 2, Wilcox 2, Petro, Ridnour). Steals: 6 (Wilcox 3, Ridnour, Wilkins, Gelabale). Technical Fouls: None.
| Cleveland | 28 | 26 | 19 | 23—96 |
| Seattle | 24 | 25 | 24 | 28—101 |
A—15,619 (17,072).