Allen scores 41 points, leads Sonics by Clippers

SEATTLE – Before Saturday night’s game, Seattle SuperSonics coach Nate McMillan said that top-scoring guard Ray Allen seemed to have weary legs.

If so, the Los Angeles Clippers would hate to see Allen when he was fully up to snuff.

Allen showed why he is one of the game’s premier scorers with a brilliant shooting performance, tossing in 14 of 23 attempts from the field, including 6-for-10 from the 3-point stripe, on his way to a game-high 41 points in the Sonics’ 102-97 victory at KeyArena. It was the Seattle’s second straight win and the third in the team’s last four games.

“The shot felt good,” Allen said with smiling understatement.

Allen had shot poorly – at least by his standards – in Seattle’s previous four games, going a combined 28-for-82 (.341 percent) from the field and just 7-for-28 (.250) from the 3-point stripe. The solution, as it turned out, was not so much extra shooting practice as it was rest, with McMillan giving Allen most of the day off from practice on Friday.

The difference was obvious early on against the Clippers as Allen made three of his first four tries from the field. In the second quarter, he helped rescue Seattle from a nine-point deficit with three consecutive 3-point goals. Then, in the decisive fourth quarter Allen scored 15 points, going 4-for-5 from the field with a 3-pointer and adding six free throws without a miss.

“Ray’s played a lot (of minutes recently) and he looked a little worn down in our last game, but he looked fresh tonight,” McMillan said. “You’d expect him to find his rhythm pretty soon after a couple of games of shooting very poorly. He’s a guy who knows what’s wrong, whether it means getting more rest or whether it’s getting in the gym.”

“I still believe I’m feeling the aftereffects of my surgery,” said Allen, who missed the season’s first 25 games after arthroscopic ankle surgery. “With the road trip, the back-to-back (games), my body still hasn’t acclimated itself to the schedule. … Coming from the road trip to these last two games, I was extremely tired. My legs were just so heavy.”

For Allen, it was his third 40-plus scoring game since joining the Sonics last February and the seventh of his eight-year NBA career.

If Allen was Seattle’s obvious star of the game, backup center Vitaly Potapenko was the team’s unsung hero. Potapenko, who has been almost a forgotten soul at the end of Seattle’s bench, managed just four points, but was superb defensively against high-scoring LA forward Elton Brand.

After watching Brand burn first Calvin Booth and then Jerome James for 16 points in the first 1/2quarters, McMillan summoned Potapenko. Brand had just two field goals the rest of the night, and just one when Potapenko was in the game. The Clippers forward did not even have a field goal attempt in nine minutes of the fourth period.

“Vitaly did a very solid job,” McMillan said. “Jerome and Calvin had trouble guarding (Brand) with his speed and his strength, and Vitaly basically shut that guy down. He really saved us. Ray Allen had an unbelievable night on the offensive end of the floor, but Vitaly saved us on the defensive end.”

“Vitaly played a hell of a game,” added Seattle guard Antonio Daniels. “Defensively, he made it very difficult for Elton Brand.”

As well as he played, Potapenko has no idea how much he will play in Seattle’s next game (a Tuesday meeting with Dallas), if at all.

“Honestly, I don’t expect anything,” he said. “I’m just staying ready for the games. It was the same thing last year. I’m used to it. It’s hard sometimes, but … you have to be ready, it’s as simple as that.”

Los Angeles, meanwhile, showed it could be a decent team over the next few seasons if it can keep its nucleus together – always a big if for the typically-terrible Clippers. Brand finished with 26 points and 16 rebounds, and fellow forward Corey Maggette (a onetime Sonics draft pick) contributed 28 points and 10 rebounds. Los Angeles pounded Seattle 48-34 in rebounds and used its inside prowess to get to the free throw line 33 times, compared to just 18 for the perimeter-shooting Sonics.

Former Sonic Peja Drobnjak made his first appearance back at KeyArena and played sparingly. Drobnjak, who was traded to the Clippers before the season, had one point and one rebound in just four minutes.