They kept it close for a while. Led by Delonte West, who seemed pretty motivated to stick it to his old team, the Sonics auditioned for the giant-slayer role, only to fall to the Celtics, 104-96.

For once, the Key was full and the crowd raucous. Even the non-basketball entertainment turned it up a notch, with leather-jacket-clad mascot Squatch riding out on a Harley and leaping through a ring of fire to dunk the ball, and the Red Panda woman performing her laws-of-physics-defying, bowl balancing/unicycling act.

Forgive me for writing more so far about the atmosphere than the action, but if you’ve been to many Sonics games this year, you know how moribund the Key can be. In the first quarter of one game, Damien Wilkins crashed into the courtside seats trying to save a loose ball and knocked the over the whole connected row, which was being held down by exactly zero spectators.  So it was damn fun to feel that kind of energy in the building.

And despite my frustrations at his one-handedness and his inability to run a halfcourt offense, tonight I loved Delonte West. Before the Season began, I hoped for a run n’ gun team with a chip on its shoulder–basically, the NBA version of the Lorenzo Romar Husky teams of a few years ago. But although they’ve often played hard, that chip that makes an underdog irresistible has been missing. There are hints of it from Jeff Green, but he’s so stoic it’s hard to notice. Same for Earl Watson and Kurt Thomas, who bring the intensity but seem old and, more importantly, businesslike. And Despite the team’s humble record, when Kevin Durant goes on his streaks, it’s more Drago than Rocky.

But when Delonte West sprinted down the court to swat away a Kevin Garnett dunk attempt, getting a forearm full of cranium in the process, I got a little fired up. There was a dude who simply was not going to let the dunk happen, despite the fact that he was giving up 8 inches, 50 pounds, and a 15 foot head start. He followed this up just before halftime with a no-look dish to Durant for a fast-break flush, setting the crowd in a frenzy. It doesn’t change the fact that he can’t run a half-court offense, but at least it got people out of their seats. For one of the all-too-few, all-too-short stretches this year, it was exhilarating to be a Sonics fan.

Of course, it didn’t last. Paul Pierce went on a scoring binge, Szczerbiak started taking bad shots, West repeatedly left Eddie House open, Kurt Thomas fouled out after a heroic evening against Garnett in the post, and the Supes were once more a day late and a dollar short. Still, it was fun to get a little glimpse of the eye of the tiger.

PS–Ray Allen was a total non-factor.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 29th, 2007 at 3:29 am and is filed under Supersonics, Roundball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.