SEATTLE – In every NBA game, statisticians track chart what are called points in the paint. That is, layins and other field goals from inside the key.
On Tuesday night, that statistic alone underscored how thoroughly the visiting New Jersey Nets whipped the Seattle SuperSonics in a 93-70 decision at KeyArena.
Repeatedly scoring at will in close while denying the Sonics all but a handful of point-blank attempts, New Jersey built an astonishing 50-6 advantage in the paint through the first 3 1/2quarters. And in the decisive second half, while the Nets were turning a nine-point halftime deficit into a 24-point margin with something akin to a layin drill, that figure was 30-0 – at least until subs from both sides came in to play out the last minutes.
In the second half, sighed Seattle coach Nate McMillan, the Nets “basically got what they wanted every trip down the floor.”
“Every time I turned around, they were dunking the ball,” said forward Rashard Lewis.
The Sonics, meanwhile, could muster almost nothing at the offensive end after halftime. The team’s 25 points in the last two periods were an all-time low for one half, spanning the 37 seasons in franchise history.
In sum, Seattle’s second-half performance was as hideous as any in recent memory. Although the Sonics were atop a 45-36 halftime score, that lead vanished in barely more than three minutes of the third quarter. New Jersey, in fact, opened with a 13-0 scoring run and never trailed again. Though Seattle was still within five points going into the final period, the last 12 minutes quickly became an utter blowout.
By the time Nets coach Byron Scott began pulling his starters with about 3 1/2minutes left, the visitors were up 88-64 and boos were sounding through the arena – at least from those spectators who had not already started streaming for the exits.
“We heard (the boos),” said Seattle forward Vlade Radmanovic, “and that’s what’s going to happen if we play like this.”
“It was a total breakdown,” McMillan said of Seattle’s second-half showing.
Did his team quit?
“We’ve done that when things get bad,” he said. “And we didn’t show fight tonight. … I felt like we didn’t fight and that’s what the NBA is about. Teams are going to make runs and you have to fight back, but we just continued to allow those guys to do what they wanted to do.”
Right now, he added, the Sonics are “a very fragile group.”
New Jersey, which came in with a mere 5-7 record, was led by forward Kenyon Martin, who staggered the Sonics with a 27-point, 14-effort, with all but four points coming in the first three quarters. The 6-foot-9 forward was almost unstoppable around the basket, but then so were most of his teammates.
“I knew we had to come out with a lot of energy in the third quarter and we did,” Martin said. “We jumped on them right away.”
Guard Jason Kidd, who missed New Jersey’s last game and was questionable to play because of a sore knee, chipped in 13 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for the 53rd triple-double of his remarkable NBA career. At the other end, he hounded Sonics guard Flip Murray, holding him to a season-low 11 points on 4-for-17 shooting from the field.
“Jason Kidd takes a challenge,” Scott said. “He knew that Flip had been playing extremely well and he accepts those types of challenges. Obviously he felt pretty good. He was able to move laterally and when he can (do that) there are not a lot of people that are going to get by him.
“Taking a week off and getting a triple-double is pretty good,” he added. “You have to be a special player to do that and that’s what Jason is.”
For Seattle, it was the end of a four-game homestand that produced just one win and a whole heap of questions. The Sonics will try to find some answers at practice the next two days before heading to Salt Lake City and a Friday night game against the Utah Jazz.
“We’re not together right now,” said Lewis, one of Seattle’s captains. “We’re separated and we have to get back together and start playing team basketball and liking each other. When we were losing ballgames it’s like it’s separated us a little bit, but this is the NBA and you’re going to lose. And now we have to get back to playing together.”
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