2 Down, 80 to Go

SEATTLE - The Seattle Sonics have given up 110 points to Portland last Wednesday at home and 118 on the road in LA against the Lakers on Friday. In the loss against the Lakers Luke Ridnour fouled out of the game, the Sonics committed 30 fouls, Lakers 16. The Lakers shot 48 freethrow attemps to Seattle's 16. It's pretty simple really.

As I wrote, in part, in a prior post on October 28th:

Ridnour: He's going to have a hard time adjusting to not knowing if the center behind him will actually be there in position. Luke has to make contact with his man early in the dribble to apply pressure without getting called for shooting fouls. Look at how the Sun's pressure the ball and sometimes foul, but they don't send people to the FT line. The Suns get the and-1, they don't give it, that's how they win. Pressure early Luke.

You, Luke Ridnour, must apply pressure to the player while the ball is on the floor. It is possible to have 4 team fouls a quarter, 20 in each game an NEVER send the other team to the freethrow line. That is in fact a perfect game to me. Having applied good defense to the point of fouling once in a while and yet not fouling in a way that gives up a single point. I have no doubt that if a team were to It is possible to have 30 fouls and only send the other team to the line 6 times for 12 points, unlikely, but possible. In order to send a team to the line for 48 attempts you have to hack at guys while they are in the act, a lot.

Not having the rotation set before the first game, due to Robert Swift's injury, has impacted the rotations on defense.
I think they will figure this out very quickly. Sene looks like a quick study.

Stop sending the other team to the freethrow line, move your feet, stop grabbing, play ball.