SEATTLE (AP) -- Ray Allen broke the NBA record for 3-pointers in a season, finishing with 269, and the Seattle SuperSonics wrapped up their disappointing season with a 109-98 victory over the playoff-bound Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night.

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1 2 3 4 Total Seattle 29 31 22 14 96 Final  Sacramento 23 35 30 17 105 ss="yspscores">

PopcornMachine’s GameFlow (not yet available)

Plus/Minus
The Good: Mike Wilks +8, Damien Wilkins +5, and Robert Swift +2. The Bad: Mikki Moore -1, Noel Felix -2. The Ugly: Chris Wilcox -8, Rashard Lewis -10, Johan Petro and Ray Allen -11, and Luke Ridnour -17.

Help Value (hv=Reb+Ast+Blk+Stl-TO)
Wilcox led the team with a very strong +19 on the back of his rebounding. Ray Allen and Luke Ridnour were both +11.

Swift/Petro line of the night: 44 minutes, 20 points, 14 boards (7 offensive), 6 fouls.

Sonics: 20 assists, 17 turn overs.

Since taking over as head coach after the loss at Indiana, Bob Hill has had 13 games to put his stamp on this team, and its quest to right the ship. We have seen the expected ups and downs that come with this type of transition; a 5-8 record is the most visible yardstick. But the story behind the story of wins and losses is the direction the team is headed; the tenor and chemistry of the Supersonics going forward. My estimation of the team under Bob Hill is that it is “trending upward”.

Prior to, and shortly after the change of Coach there was regular finger pointing and silent and not so silent dissent; we all read of Vladimir’s griping and constant refrain from his agent over playing time. Robert Swift and the NBA D league were mentioned in the same breath. We heard of Reggie asking for a trade, as well as Vitale; grumbling and discontent from Rick Brunson and Danny Fortson. Ray and Rashard have been telling us that they cannot do it all.

I say “trending upward” not because Seattle has won 3 out of their last 4, but because the tenor, the general direction of the team seems “hopeful”, and positive with just about half of the season to go. Winning silences most of the dissent. Therefore Seattle needs to keep on the positive side of the win loss column. This latest stretch of positive games, and the new energy and attitude on the team looks like a godsend for a team that was a ship without a rudder.

Individual performances within the framework of the team system as a whole are the framework for success. Good teams need good players; and in the NBA, most all teams have good players; but good players and good individual performances don’t necessarily put wins in the win column. The system has to be a good one that plays to the player’s strengths, and mitigates the weaknesses. Prior to the coaching change, we still had some good players (or great players) making great plays and having great games, but the wins were not forthcoming. Reggie Evans was showing some great rebounding and scoring numbers; but we were losing at an alarming rate. Ray and Rashard were both putting up All-Star numbers, but we were 13-17.

Things have been different for the Supes as of late. Seattle has put a few good games together against quality teams, even on the road. But it seems to me that our Point Guard has been infused with a new lease on life since the change. Luke has played 12 games under our new coach, and the system seems to really match his skill set. Under Hill, Luke has averaged 37 minutes, 4 Rebs, 7.1 Assists and 15.7 points. This is a great improvement over his roughly 10 pts/6 Assists numbers of last year, and most of this year. True he is playing more minutes, but he is earning them with the stellar play. Over the last 13 games (of which he has played 12), he has been matched up against some of the leagues finest point guards (we are talking about hall of fame, and MVP) in Stephon Marbury, Allan Iverson, Steve Francis, Baron Davis, Steve Nash, Sam Cassell and Chauncey Billups. Throw in Jason Williams, Gary Payton, Mike James and Chris Duhon and you can’t find a stiff in the group. It was against these players that our “homegrown” point guard has excelled.

It would be remiss of me to not mention the maturation and the growth curve of our two young stud centers in Petro and Swifty, and how much of a key they have been; but we didn’t know what we had there. Their ability to contribute was nearly an unknown. Luke on the other hand was a starter on a playoff team last year. To see him step it up in this fashion shows how much the system needed to change to fit his strengths and weaknesses, and those of the team as a whole.

I for one like what I am seeing; so for me I would characterize the team as “trending upward”, just as Luke’s play has been.

While Danny is not one of the top line guys for the Sups in either talent or impact he definitely qualifies as one when it comes to personality. There are qualities about Fortson both on and off the basketball court that simply make him interesting and are worthy of conversation.

In addition to being “interesting” Danny Fortson is just plain a nice guy. I will probably continue to write stories about him because as much as any player on the team I genuinely like the guy. He is in fact the only Sonic who has much interest in what I am doing there and actually claims to have visited the site. Here’s hoping he doesn’t get too mad when I criticize him. Its part of the business big fella.

Danny is an enigma. With a reputation as a thug and a guy prone towards violent temper tantrums and hard fouls you would expect him to be intimidating and surly. Danny qualifies as intimidating from a physical standpoint. Almost all NBA players are bigger than me, but few are as large as Fortson who is frankly just massive. I simply cannot imagine being on the wrong side of a bad mood with this guy.

Luckily he is not surly or intimidating. Danny Fortson may have the most easygoing smile and charismatic personality of anyone I have ever met. He goes out of his way to bridge the gap between his size and NBA stardom and my everyday guy stature. He is a guy who makes the effort to walk over toy you for an easygoing handshake or to put his arm on your shoulder instead of pretending there is a glass wall between the press and the players. Danny makes you feel like his friend even if you just met him. In our 5 or 6 conversations I have heard all about his young daughter and the great times they’ve spent together. I have heard all about his deathly fear of flying and the burden that has been on a career where you log countless hours in the air. I have heard almost everything except the standard “take it game by game” type answers that so many athletes churn out without thought.

So if Fortson is not mean, violent, or surly, then it seems like the only explanation for his on the court behavior is that he is not such a smart guy. How could anyone with a few brain cells watch his game tape and not make some adjustments. How could he really be such a nice person and not be bothered by the poor reputation and constant foul calls? Again I simply lack an answer. You can tell by talking to the guy that he is bright and insightful. He makes an honest effort to explain himself and does not seem to suffer from a lack of self awareness. I have met stupid people in my life and would not count Fortson among that group.

That’s the good stuff. Unfortunately some of those same attributes make Danny something of a disappointment as a basketball player.

What seems to stop Danny Fortson from being a great player is that his sincere desire to be just a “regular guy” overrides any sense of becoming an “exceptional guy.” Danny wants to be ordinary much more than he wants to be great. In comments

I asked Danny several weeks ago whether he was a guy who looked himself in the mirror and tried hard to be a better person.

“I’ll tell you one thing; I don’t have any criminal record” said a clearly agitated Fortson.

And that is the heart of the problem. If I asked Danny what his dreams and aspirations are for his 4 year old daughter I am certain that he would not say “as long as she’s not in jail I’ll be happy for her.” Danny applies low standards to himself and the results speak for themselves.

After hearing Danny Fortson’s tirade against officials and journalists yesterday I was extremely disappointed because nothing good can come of it. Again my favorite player is digging his own grave with comments that while sincere serve no purpose. I could only feel sorry for Sonics PR Director Marc Moquin who did his best to limit Fortsons media interaction and quickly shut down my final interview request.

“He’s done!” said Moq with a bit of feeling.

Indeed Fortson was done for the afternoon but likely the damage has been done. Danny needs to shut his mouth and adjust his game if he hopes to make a substantial impact for this team.

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1 2 3 4 Total Cleveland 30 18 31 29 108 Final  Seattle 26 32 23 34 115 ss="yspscores">

PopcornMachine’s GameFlow (will be added when posted)

20 assists to 8 turn overs as a team. Would like to see more asssits, but that ratio is very nice.
As I was watching part of the game, Fortson was standing next to Donyell Marshall. I was reminded of just how wide Danny’s body is. He was two Marshalls wide, Marshall looked like a twig, like a piece of Danny’s hair had fallen off and was trying to get it’s own rebound.
Nice to see 3 Sonics with 20pts in a game, and Flip got to the line like a demon. It is concerning thought that he had over half (12 of 23) of our FTA’s.
9 steals as a team is great, and we won the battle of the boards by 8.

1 2 3 4 Total Sacramento 36 27 25 16 104 Final  Seattle 25 32 30 19 106 ss="yspscores">   Sacramento  Name Min FG 3Pt FT Off Reb Ast TO Stl Blk PF Pts    S. Abdur-Rahim 36 7-10 0-0 2-2 2 4 8 4 3 1 4 16    P. Stojakovic 39 9-14 6-8 1-1 0 4 3 1 1 0 4 25    B. Miller 40 7-10 0-0 2-5 2 8 8 3 1 0 1 16    M. Bibby 39 8-16 2-6 7-8 0 3 3 5 1 0 2 25    B. Wells 39 6-12 0-0 1-2 2 11 5 3 2 0 4 13    K. Martin 15 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0    K. Thomas 20 3-4 0-0 3-4 1 3 0 1 0 1 1 9    J. Hart 12 0-4 0-0 0-0 0 4 1 0 0 1 1 0    F. Garcia DNP - Coach’s Decision   R. Price DNP - Coach’s Decision   J. Sampson DNP - Coach’s Decision   B. Skinner DNP - Coach’s Decision   C. Williamson DNP - Coach’s Decision  Totals 240 40-72 8-14 16-22 7 38 28 18 8 3 17 104   Percentages:   .556 .571 .727   Team Rebounds: 6  Seattle  Name Min FG 3Pt FT Off Reb Ast TO Stl Blk PF Pts    N. Collison 35 4-8 0-0 5-6 3 9 0 1 3 1 3 13    R. Lewis 40 5-13 2-6 2-2 1 5 1 3 3 1 3 14    D. Fortson 16 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 5 0 2 0 0 2 2    R. Allen 42 9-20 5-13 5-7 1 4 7 3 1 0 3 28    L. Ridnour 34 4-11 0-3 2-2 1 1 13 2 2 0 3 10    V. Potapenko 14 4-5 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 0 0 1 3 8    D. Wilkins 15 4-6 2-2 0-0 2 4 0 2 1 0 3 10    M. Cleaves 14 2-5 0-1 0-0 0 0 4 0 0 0 1 4    V. Radmanovic 30 7-13 3-7 0-0 2 6 4 1 2 0 2 17    R. Brunson DNP - Coach’s Decision   R. Evans DNP - Coach’s Decision   M. Moore DNP - Coach’s Decision   R. Murray DNP - Coach’s Decision   J. Petro DNP - Coach’s Decision   R. Swift DNP - Coach’s Decision  Totals 240 40-84 12-32 14-17 12 36 29 14 12 3 23 106   Percentages:   .476 .375 .824   Team Rebounds: 5

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PopcornMachine’s GameFlow
-Fortson’s +/- was -4, Potapenko, Wilkins and Cleaves were all -5. Nick led the way with +9, followed by Vlade with +7.
-Nick and Vlade were +12 HelpValue, and Luke was +14. (HV=Reb+Ast+Blk+Stl-TO

Also of note: Petro out for the game with the flu. Spent the day in the hospital with dehydration, and likely will be released tomorrow.