The Sonics are notorious for playing at their best only when their backs are against the wall, which is certainly the case now. Perhaps the collective psychological impact of being mired at the ass-end of their division all season--watching their playoff chances recede on the horizon--has had a liberating effect. Even if it were possible to measure such a thing, it still wouldn't account fully for their recent streak. It's one thing to knock off teams like Portland and Milwaukee; the Sonics have always been good at hauling down the giants. It's another thing to beat the Warriors and the Bulls when your tendency is to flop against weaker teams, sinking just a notch below their level. That Seattle swept the good, the bad, and the ugly alike into the loss column last week has more to do with consistency, focus, and team dynamics than any sort of negative capability or motivational desperation. It may well be that the Sonics have finally--and just a little too late--cohered.
So on one level, the Sonics appear to have solidified themselves as a totality, as a whole team--to have hammered out something more formidable than the mere sum of their individual parts. And on another, more distinct yet entirely related level, there is the combined play of Patrick Ewing and Gary Payton, whirring like a dynamo inside the greater machine. Ewing, one of the few Sonics not to sustain a debilitating injury this year, has been coming on strong, giving the Sonics a necessary kick-start in the early minutes of games; Payton, along with his still upward-evolving talents as a point guard, has been exhibiting a quality of personal balance and positive intensity that is beginning to resemble something like leadership. Most importantly, the stylistic and charismatic force of these two players has served to integrate the team, to elevate its play. And that, then, is how everything comes full circle: from team to player back to team. That's how you win six games in a row.