Frahm helps Sonics out of jam

DENVER – Tired and a little beat up, the Seattle SuperSonics needed a lift.

They got it from an unexpected source: rookie Richie Frahm.

Frahm hit six 3-pointers and scored a career-high 31 points, and Ronald Murray added 24 points and 10 assists to lead Seattle to a 115-106 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night.

“That guy was hot tonight,” Sonics coach Nate McMillan said. “We gave him some plays tonight. We felt that this guy would give us a game like this sometime during the season.”

It came at a good time.

The Sonics were coming off a lopsided loss to San Antonio on Friday night and played without guards Antonio Daniels and Brent Barry.

Frahm picked up the slack.

He had 16 points by halftime, one short of his career high, and hit two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter after Denver cut the lead to five. Frahm also hit two free throws in the closing seconds to seal the win, and finished 10-for-11 from the field – 6-of-7 from 3-point range – after averaging 3.5 points his first 20 games.

Not bad for a player who isn’t even in the team’s media guide and played in Turkey last year.

“I had a real aggressive mentality, but I wasn’t going to take a bad shot,” said Frahm, who had 11 combined points the previous three games. “I had a rhythm and I knew that I had to be aggressive to get shots and get my feet under me to knock them down.”

Denver’s Voshon Lenard matched Frahm nearly shot for shot, with seven 3-pointers and 31 points, but he was the only one who didn’t seem to be tired after a last-second loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night.

The Nuggets shot 40 percent, had trouble getting back on defense – 20 fast-break points for Seattle – and had coach Jeff Bzdelik searching for something to pound with his fist on several times.

It didn’t help that Marcus Camby sat out the second half with a strained lower back and Ryan Bowen went out after an inadvertent elbow by Reggie Evans opened a huge gash on his forehead.

“We think we can just outscore people and do our own thing,” Bzdelik said. “And so this is what happens.”

The Nuggets seemed tired from the start after arriving in Denver around 5 a.m.

Denver had three turnovers early, didn’t have a field goal until Lenard made a layup 3:39 in and gave up dunks down the lane by Rashard Lewis and Murray.

Lenard helped Denver take a 20-13 lead with a pair of 3-pointers, but the Nuggets missed five of their final six shots and continued to have trouble getting back on defense.

“It was a collective bad effort,” said Denver’s Andre Miller, who had 24 points and 10 assists.

Seattle didn’t seem bothered by playing consecutive nights.

The Sonics hit four of their first five shots and were 10-for-20 in the first quarter to lead 27-24. Frahm helped.

He came off the bench to score eight points in the final 59 seconds of the first quarter, then added seven more in the first four minutes of the second as the Sonics pushed the lead to 39-29.

Seattle shot 50 percent overall and got 17 points each from Luke Ridnour and Lewis to end a three-game losing streak.

“Both teams got in late last night and we seemed to look a little fresher to me,” McMillan said.