ORLANDO — Plop!
Looking lethargic after a cross-country trek to the East Coast, the the Seattle SuperSonics finally laid an egg this season in a 103-76 pasting by the Orlando Magic Tuesday night at Amway Arena.
How bad did it get?
Seattle trailed by as many as 33 points, including an 85-56 deficit at the end of the third quarter that had many of the 16,101 Orlando fans choosing to head for the exits to beat traffic on Interstate 4.
The sluggish effort led to some soul searching for Sonics players in the locker room afterward.
“You have to be mentally strong in a time like this,” Seattle forward Damien Wilkins said. “Teams are going to make runs. That’s the NBA — it’s a game of runs. And we’ve got to be able to sustain a team’s run and hit back.”
The fourth quarter basically became empty-the-bench time for both teams. Seldom-used players James Augustine and Bo Outlaw got some time for the Magic, and Frenchmen Mickael Gelabale and Johan Petro logged the majority of their minutes for Seattle in the fourth quarter.
One of the few bright spots for Seattle was the play of Nick Collison and Jeff Green. Collison led the team with 15 points and six rebounds. And Green had another solid game with 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Seattle also forced Orlando into 26 turnovers, converting those miscues into 26 points.
But overall, it was Seattle’s worst performance with P.J. Carlesimo as the team’s head coach.
“The one thing we always do is play harder, and I didn’t think we were playing harder than our opponent tonight,” Carlesimo said. “I thought for the first time this year we hung our heads a little bit. It could be the first trip, first day and all of that stuff.
“But that’s disappointing because the one thing we’ve done a good job with is competing and playing hard.”
Orlando big man Dwight Howard and the Magic’s bevy of dead-eye shooters from outside combined to hand Seattle (0-8) it’s eighth straight defeat to begin the season, extending the franchise record.
Howard’s brute force was unstoppable inside, as the 6-foot-11 center with broad shoulders and long arms finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds, recording his 13th double-double dating back to last season.
But the outside shooting of Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu and Keith Bogans helped the Magic (6-2) pull away. The trio combined to shoot 10-of-20 from the 3-point line, as the Sonics failed to consistently get out and contest the perimeter shooters.
Lewis played well in his first meeting against his former team, finishing with 22 points and six rebounds. Turkoglu contributed 17 points, and Bogans totaled 16 points, including 5-of-6 shooting from the 3-point arc.
“The main thing was that we wanted to win the game, more than anything,” Lewis said. “I didn’t want to lose to a team that I used to play for the last nine years.”
As good as Orlando was offensively, Seattle pretty much stunk it up on its end. The Sonics shot 33-of-96 (34.4 percent) from the field for the game, including 2-of-10 (20 percent) from the 3-point line. The Sonics were outrebounded, 58-44, and outscored, 46-42, in the paint.
Seattle’s chances for a win looked promising early, as the Sonics ran out to an 8-0 lead. But things deteriorated quickly. Orlando out-scored Seattle 28-6 thereafter, as the Magic grabbed control. Lewis scored 12 points in the opening quarter, and Seattle shot a frigid 25 percent (7-of-28) in the first.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
