Seattle gets its revenge

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, January 11, 2005

SEATTLE – The last time the Seattle SuperSonics faced the Los Angeles Clippers, it was the Nov. 3 season opener for both teams and the Clippers were strutting off their home court with a 30-point triumph.

Since that woeful night, and even as the Sonics were beating up on other teams around the NBA, they were looking forward to some payback.

Tuesday night at KeyArena, they got it. No, not by 30 points. Just five, actually, but Seattle still got the victory it wanted with a 104-99 decision over the scrappy, persistent and plain bothersome Clippers.

“As long as we’ve been winning, we’ve been talking about playing this team again,” said Sonics forward Danny Fortson. “And tonight we were able to go out and get a win.”

This was a back-and-forth affair with a remarkable 18 lead changes and 13 ties. Neither team ever led by double digits – Seattle’s biggest margin was nine points, L.A.’s three – and the outcome was not decided until the game’s final moments.

It took, in fact, two Nick Collison free throws with 13 seconds to play and a missed 3-point try by L.A.’s Rick Brunson seconds later before the issue was settled.

“That was a tough game,” admitted Sonics coach Nate McMillan. “The Clippers scrap and we knew they would. But I thought in the second half we got involved in the scrapping and we won, and that’s what it’s all about.”

The win pushed the Seattle to a 25-8 record. It is the first time the Sonics have been 13 games over .500 since they were 40-27 in the 1999-2000 season.

Ray Allen led the Sonics with 31 points – the ninth time he has been over 30 this season – to go with seven assists and six rebounds. Also stepping up was reserve forward Vlade Radmanovic with 18 points and seven rebounds.

“Ray made some big shots,” McMillan said. “And Vlade, I think he’s one of the best sixth men in the league. And we need him to come out and give us something every night.”

Those contributions helped offset the sub-par game by forward Rashard Lewis, who went to the locker room late in the first quarter with a bruised right quadriceps muscle. Lewis returned to start the second half, but was clearly off his game. He finished with just nine points and no rebounds in 24 minutes.

“Rashard got a knee in the thigh and was real sore,” McMillan said, “but he fought through that. He had some big baskets in the second half, but he was still pretty sore.”

Then there was Fortson, who played a spirited 22 minutes. He had just one field goal in four attempts, but got to the free throw line and made all nine chances for 11 points. He also had seven rebounds and two blocked shots.

“He brings energy and scrapping to the floor,” McMillan said. “He hustles and he’s physical, and I think the team feeds off of that.”

There were a few other numbers of note. The Sonics had eight turnovers, a season low, and center Jerome James blocked five shots, a season high. Also, point guard Luke Ridnour matched his season high with 11 assists.

Lastly, a crowd of 15,001 attended the game, well under KeyArena’s capacity of 17,072. It was the first game in the last eight at home that was not a sellout, a string dating back to a Dec. 4 game against Portland.

The Sonics left immediately after the game for a flight to Los Angeles and a rematch tonight with the Clippers at the Staples Center. Seattle will return home after that game to prepare for Friday’s game against Golden State at KeyArena.