A LEGEND IS BORN III

[George7]

Take your time Sit!RL is first

[Fresh8]

Updated: January 15, 2014
How Far Can They Go?
Taking a look into our crystal ball, it looks like the Seattle Stealth could create history this season. 34 wins in a row is not out of the question!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Stealth’s winning streak has been like something out of a cartoon

By Jeffery Johnson
ESPN.com Junior Writer

A few years ago, Gail Goodrich stated that he did not believe that his former team’s 33-game winning streak would ever be beaten. I called him a few days ago up to ask him whether he would change his opinion on the topic and he wanted me to pass on a message to Kevin Durant and Krew: “Good luck.” In the midst of a 20 game win streak, I looked at the Stealth schedule for their next 10 opponents. Unfortunately for Goodrich and his 1972 NBA champion teammates, Seattle won’t need any luck to break that record. My money is on the Stealth.

The Seattle’s win streak has been nothing short of sensational, super, superb and any other adjective that starts with the letter ‘s’. Stealth owner and Lakers legend Magic Johnson recently came out to proclaim this team as one of the best in league history, “Kevin Durant and his teammates are so dominant. It was only a short time before they would have a run like this.” He added, “I know that a lot of the guys over there (in LA) are probably mad I’m rooting for these guys but I’m the owner now so I have to.”

Many have wondered what could have awakened the Stealth after back to back Western Conference Finals defeats and a sluggish start to 2013-14. The answer has been repeated on talk shows all across the nation: Kevin Durant. Durant has been playing out of his skin recently and his season per game averages have raised to marks of 29.9 points, 6.8 rebounds (career high), 2.6 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.4 blocks. Durant has also been as efficient as can be in compiling his numbers by shooting at clips of .571 FG%, .467 3PT% and .907 FT%.

“Have you ever seen a player like him?” Coach George Karl asked rhetorically. To try and answer him, I haven’t – not in a long time at least. Durant is a wing player who takes shots from all over the floor. He gets double and triple coverage on a nightly basis and he still rips other sides apart. Rarely does he ever have an ‘off-night’. I am just surprised that he hasn’t cracked the 60 point mark all season yet. The fact that he is grabbing nearly 7 boards a game shows that he is improving all other aspects of his game as well.

However, it’s not just all about Kevin. The team has built up an imposing 29-9 record heading into mid-January with league leading team statistics all across the board. A look at all the categories that they lead the league gives everyone a clear picture as to how this team has piled up win after win.

Points: 119.6 (1st)
Points Difference: + 12.2 (1st)
Field Goal %: .513 (1st)
Three Point %: .427 (1st)
Assists: 29.5 (1st)
Rebounds: 41.2 (9th)
Steals: 8.2 (6th)

The numbers yell out ‘up-tempo offensive juggernaut’ and that’s all thanks to two other people: Karl and Jason Kidd. The return of Karl has seen the side play a much more free style of basketball. Karl recently acknowledged that he had one rule and that was to let the hot player keep shooting. “We have so many guys who can score 20 or 30 on any given night. It’s a luxury for me and if someone is playing great, I just want that guy to get the ball,” Karl stated. That’s why you see Reshawn Tyson, Andrew Bogut, Allen Iverson and even David Lee having huge games on any other night. The impact of Karl’s coaching has obviously been one of massive magnitude.

Kidd needs not to be forgotten. The veteran is shining in Karl’s system. All of his teammates trust him with the rock as well as his judgement in distributing it. Karl stated, “Jason is just a guy who can play till he is 50. He has this pulling power that gets everyone on board. I’ve coached a few class guys at his position but I have to say that Jason is probably the best.” Kidd has averaged 10.1 assists per game this season and everyone is debating on whether Jason makes the Stealth or the Stealth actually make him. Kidd definitely believes it’s the latter, “Without my teammates, I doubt I’d still be playing at this level. They make me look good.”

The Stealth have been magnificent over the past 20 games as they compiled the record through 9 home wins and 11 away wins. During that run, they also played 6 straight road games. And now their reward for getting through all of that is a pretty easy 10 game stretch leading up to All-Star weekend.

Jan 16: Dallas (20-17)
Jan 17: at Boston (14-23)
Jan 19: San Antonio (15-24)
Jan 24: Boston (14-23)
Jan 26: at Memphis (10-25)
Jan 28: at Houston (18-22)
Jan 30: Miami (19-19)
Jan 31: New Jersey (24-15)
Feb 3: New York (12-29)
Feb 5: Indiana (24-15)
Feb 7: Atlanta (22-16)
Feb 9: LA Clippers (11-24)
Feb 11: New Orleans (22-14)
All-Star Break
Feb 17: at Indiana (24-15)

Out of the next 10 games, 3 are away and that has got to be music to the Stealth’s ears. Their fans will also love it as every game played at home will be one that could potentially be historic. Not to mention the lack of any real threats to the Stealth’s streak except for the Nets whom the team meets at home on the second night of back to backs. The night before the Nets-Stealth game could also be dangerous as the underachieving Heat come to town.

Other teams that have a shot at slowing down Seattle would have to be the Pacers and Hawks while the Hornets would have a big shot at stopping them from tying the all-time record if Seattle were in such a position to do so. And suppose that the record is tied entering All-Star break, I am sure that all eyes (including Goodrich’s) will be on the Pacers in Indiana to see if they can prevent the Stealth from setting a new record.

So the question is whether Seattle can break a 40 year old record. I think the answer should be yes.

And once that record goes down, the next step is to win the title. Just like Gail Goodrich’s Lakers of 1972.

[Axel The Great]

Great to see you back, Sit. Hope things are better for you in life now.

Those stats, especially the FG% and PPG are monster. Keep that up, and I do see you reaching 33+ consecutive wins, something Andrew's done in his dynasty.

[Lamrock]

Extremely impressive streak and the return of this story puts a smile on my face. Creative photoshopping there.

[hova-]

Great article, great to have you back bro, hope you're feeling alright.

It's an impressive offensive effort and an impressive winning streak and since you're not playing the Raptors soon, I doubt that it will end

[puttincomputers]

Welcome back!

[kibaxx7]

First on five of those seven statistics. Great to see you comeback, bro!

[Martti.]

Great to see you back. I'm gonna motivate you and say you won't break the record - to make you try harder and prove me wrong.

[Houndy]

Great to have you back on the forums. This article was great man

[Fresh8]

Thank you for the well wishes everybody. I wrote up an article just to get my mind off of things. It did help a bit, I've been very stressed as of late.

All feedback on the article is welcome!

[The X]

Matching 33 win streak is nowhere near as impressive since the league is now diluted, you'd have to win 50 straight to match it

[Grandmama Johnson]

Welcome back, Sit!

[shadowgrin]

Article sucks. We all know the Stealth will not break the record. They choke. Just ask Chara and the Kings.

[rise]

Welcome back Sit! Hope everything's alright and I'm eager to see this start up again!

[The X]

Article sucks. We all know the Stealth will not break the record. They choke. Just ask Chara and the Kings.

The truth hurts

[Fresh8]

Matching 33 win streak is nowhere near as impressive since the league is now diluted, you'd have to win 50 straight to match it

Do you see this winning streak being beaten in real life?

Welcome back, Sit!

Thanks Larry.

Article sucks. We all know the Stealth will not break the record. They choke. Just ask Chara and the Kings.

Touche.

Welcome back Sit! Hope everything's alright and I'm eager to see this start up again!

Thanks man. Let's see if you can improve your alter ego.

[Fresh8]

Stealth Streak To 21 With Team Effort
Dallas Maverick at Seattle Stealth: 110-124
Preview | Boxscore | Recap | Highlights



January 16, SEATTLE (AP) – As Stealth assistant coach Rasheed Wallace would say, “Both teams played hard.” That’s no consolation to the Dallas Mavericks who tried as best as they could to keep up with the Stealth’s fast paced offence but fell short in the final quarter.

Reshawn Tyson led the Stealth with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Kevin Durant added his own double double (17 points, 11 rebounds) and Seattle had six other players scoring in double figures to help grow their winning streak to 21 games. “This is one of our best wins so far,” Coach George Karl explained, “It’s against a quality side and we showed that we had extra gears to close them out.”

The Mavs are the third best offensive team in the league and decided to use their attacking mettle to counter the best offensive team. Unfortunately, the Stealth had more weapons than their visiting opponents. Andrew Watson continued to play well against Seattle and told reporters after the game that he loved playing against Durant’s team, “They’re the best in the NBA. It’s a challenge to perform well.”

The Mavs got little help from the rest of their side as Dirk Nowitzki had a poor game with just 14 points while Jerryd Bayless scored 14 but did little to inspire his teammates throughout the night.

Notes: Durant finished with 8 field goal attempts, his lowest output of the season. The Mavs admitted that they didn’t want to give him any easy shots and sent him to the line for 10 free throw attempts throughout the night… The latest All-Star ballot returns were released with Durant, Tyson and Andrew Bogut leading in votes at their respective positions. Jason Kidd is third amongst Western Conference point guards and David Lee is eighth amongst Western Conference power forwards…

Seattle Stealth 30-9 (30 – 29 – 28 – 37 – 124)



Reshawn Tyson: 25 pts, 11 reb, 10-23 FG, 0-3 3PT, 5-5 FT
Kevin Durant: 17 pts, 11 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk, 4-8 FG, 9-10 FT
Jason Kidd: 16 pts, 8 reb, 7 ast, 2 stl
Adam Morrison: 16 pts

Dallas Mavericks 20-18 (30 – 27 – 25 –28 – 110)



Andrew Watson: 22 pts
Jerryd Bayless: 14 pts
Dirk Nowitzki: 14 pts
Aaron Brooks: 13 pts
Chris Douglas-Roberts: 13 pts

[The X]

Another game, another loss. At least we kept it close until the fourth

[hova-]

Your offense is still rolling, it looks like Tyson and Durant really play together and for the team. Still I don't want you to break that streak, no team led by KD should go into the history books.

[Fresh8]

Another game, another loss. At least we kept it close until the fourth

I blame Dirkles for your troubles. He should be ripping David Lee apart!

Your offense is still rolling, it looks like Tyson and Durant really play together and for the team. Still I don't want you to break that streak, no team led by KD should go into the history books.

Yeah man, this team is so fun to play with on offense. Frustrating on defense. Everyone's a stiff!

And I'm guessing we're still in the consensus of hating KD?

[George7]

Nice!21 straight!Now you're going to lose the next game and make my prediction correct!!

[Houndy]

Nice win Sit

[shadowgrin]

hova's a KD hater. I'm watching you hova.

[Fresh8]

hova's a KD hater. I'm watching you hova.

You will be happy that Jao Wu scored in double figures last game He's getting a bit more burn as I'm winning more games.

[shadowgrin]

YES! Heck, if that means more Jao Wu burn...GO WINNING STREAK!