Sonic Boom
The Seattle SuperSonics did the NBA Texas two-step this week and two very good teams, the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks. The Sonics beat the Mavs last night 107-102 to improve their record to 17-3. The season is still early. The Sonics still have 62 games and the playoffs in which to prove that they’re for real. But they look really good right now. Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis are en fuego. The bench is hot too. As a long-suffering Seattle sports fan it’s a joy to see these guys overperform, especially after seeing the NFL Seattle Seahawks fizzle mid-season. The Sonics weren’t even expected to contend for a playoff spot; now tepid Seattle fans can start dreaming about a championship. The Seahawks were favored along with the Philadelphia Eagles to win the NFC this year, and now they’re languishing in mediocrity. The Mariners are rebuilding, and Seattle will probably never again have an NHL franchise. Seattle hasn’t had much success with professional sports franchises. In 1922 the Metropolitans became the first American team to win the Stanley Cup, and in 1978 the Sonics won their one and only NBA championship. This year the WNBA Storm won the WNBA championship over the Connecticut Sun. That was fun to see, although I’m not a big WNBA fan. The Sonics should definitely make the playoffs this year and have a chance to win it all. They have some tough competition to beat. But they’re young, and if the Sonics can resign most of them they have one heckuva team nucleus. It would make a lot of Seattle fans very happy.