SEATTLE – Four nights after they celebrated a little too zealously following a home win over the Seattle SuperSonics, the Portland Trail Blazers showed up for a rematch in KeyArena.
And for Seattle, revenge was particularly sweet.
The Sonics, behind the 20 points apiece from forwards Vlade Radmanovic and Rashard Lewis, rolled past their I-5 rivals on Saturday night 99-89 in a spirited showdown before a sellout gathering of 17,072. The visitors, who had pumped their fists jubilantly and even expressed some taunting remarks after Tuesday’s game, were left to stroll glumly to their locker room as the Sonics rejoiced at center court in what has become a traditional postgame huddle.
”In my mind, I didn’t want to lose to this team again,” said Seattle forward Danny Fortson. ”Those guys, they talk a lot over there. I’m talking about Ruben Patterson and Nick Van Exel. And that would have been more for them to talk about if they get another win.
”For us to get that win,” Fortson added with a grin, ”that should quiet them down a little bit on the chirping.”
It was, acknowledged Seattle coach Nate McMillan, a satisfying bit of payback.
The Sonics, he said, ”have been talking about that a lot this week, and at times that word was used.”
The decision was Seattle’s ninth without a loss at KeyArena this season. It is the team’s longest home winning streak to start a season since the Sonics won their first 12 home games in the 1993-94 season.
The outcome raised Seattle’s overall record to 15-3, matching San Antonio for the best mark in the NBA.
The Blazers began the night focusing their defensive energies on Seattle’s Ray Allen, usually putting some of their top defenders on the All-Star guard and often sending a second defender to help. Allen, one of the NBA’s top perimeter shooters, finished the night just 5-for-15 from the field and tied his season low with 14 points, well below his season average of 24.6.
Radmanovic, in particular, stepped in to pick up the slack. Not only did he have 20 points (17 by halftime, when Seattle was on top to stay), he tacked on 10 rebounds, five steals, four assists and a blocked shot in perhaps his most complete effort of the season.
”I thought Vlade played great tonight,” McMillan said. ”He played a solid game and an intelligent game. Even though he had a tough matchup – he was on Zach (Randolph, Portland’s top scorer) for much of the night – offensively, he was just really aggressive with the ball.”
”I’m mainly glad we won the game,” Radmanovic said. ”Many times I’ve said it doesn’t matter who steps up on this team as long as we’re winning games. There’s so many guys that can play, and all we have to do is find the guy who is hot that night. Tonight it was me. Guys were getting me the ball and I was making shots, but every night it is going to be someone else.”
Ironically, Radmanovic had just three points in Tuesday’s game against the Blazers, converting a single 3-point shot. It was, he admitted, ”one of the worst games of the season for me.”
On Saturday, Seattle started slowly by spotting the visitors an early 12-2 lead. Radmanovic helped get the Sonics untracked, hitting his first three shots from the field – two of them 3-pointers – and after a back-and-forth second quarter Seattle managed to take a 52-50 edge at the break.
The Sonics then opened the third quarter with a 12-4 scoring burst, and for much of the second half the lead was in double digits. Portland did close within five points early in the fourth quarter, but Seattle quickly snuffed the rally and returned the margin to double figures.
”We stayed focused and we played hard,” Fortson said. ”We knew that Portland is a tough team. Just looking at their record (8-7), that really doesn’t tell you how good they are. They have great players, so we just wanted to stay focused and get a W.”
Ahead for the Sonics is a three-day respite prior to a rugged swing through Texas next week. Seattle visits San Antonio on Wednesday, then moves to Dallas on Thursday for games against the top two teams in the Southwest Division.
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