Sonics' Season Ends

Ray Allen's desperation three point try at the end of last night's game looked on target as it arced toward the basket with the final buzzer sounding.

But it bounced off the right side of the rim, ending the Sonics' unexpectedly successful season. The Spurs, not Seattle, will advance to the Western Conference finals with a 4-2 series victory, after winning last night 98-96.

We watched the game at Tangletown, a "brew pub" near Green Lake that is one of the worst bars we've ever been to. If you like bad food, watered-down drinks and incompetent bartenders, make haste to this establishment, which replaced the much-loved Honey Bear Bakery.

But as bad as Tangletown was, it was not as bad as the officiating in the last five minutes of last night's game. The Spurs offense consisted of running into Jerome James, then falling to the floor while the officials granted them free throws.

With two minutes left, Tim Duncan received a pass, then bobbled it while taking four steps toward the basket. No whistle. Duncan flipped up a shot, which went in, and a foul was called on a stunned James.

If Seattlest were one of the three officials, we wouldn't go to a Starbucks for a few days. Howard Schultz had a look of pure hatred in his eyes, and we can envision him sending photos of referees Dan Crawford, Joe Forte and Greg Willard out over the Starbucks ethernet with an order that goat urine be put in their frappuccinos.

But enough sour grapes--this was a tremendous season for the Sonics. They were picked to finish out of the playoffs and began the year with a 30-point defeat to the Clippers. The superstar play of Ray Allen, efficiency of Rashard Lewis, frontcourt aggression of Reggie Evans, and what seemed to be a genuine team spirit led this team to 52 regular season wins and a deep playoff run.

We recommend taking one day to enjoy the memories a fun season before fretting about the offseason's Big Question.