SEATTLE – After regulation ended on a sour note for the Seattle SuperSonics, coach Nate McMillan had some pointed words for his squad.
Moments after New York’s Tim Thomas swished on off-balance 3-pointer from the left wing to tie the score and Knicks teammate Kurt Thomas sent the game to overtime by blocking a Seattle shot just before the horn, McMillan brought his players together at the bench.
Sensing their discouragement, McMillan had a succinct message.
“I told the guys in the huddle going into overtime, ‘Get your heads up. We haven’t won a game like this all season long. Let’s get one.’”
Taking his words to heart, the Sonics responded handsomely in the extra session, pulling away from New York in the early moments and ending up with a 109-101 victory at KeyArena.
“That team fought, OK,” McMillan said, speaking about his players. Once the game went to overtime, “they regrouped, got themselves together, and pulled out a big win.”
“This was a good win,” agreed guard Antonio Daniels. “Any time you go into overtime and come away with a victory like that, that’s a good win. This year, we have confidence that we can pull out games like this.”
When Tim Thomas sank his improbable shot to tie the score in the late seconds, “nobody hung their heads,” Daniels said. “That’s basketball. The game is never over until it’s over and tonight was just an example of that. We continued to play and got the win in overtime.”
The win, Seattle’s fifth in a row and the seventh in the past eight games, dropped the team’s magic number for clinching a playoff berth to one. The Sonics, who missed the postseason in both of the past two seasons, will clinch a berth if Minnesota loses at New Jersey tonight. If the T-wolves win, Seattle can still wrap up a playoff spot by beating Washington on Sunday at KeyArena. Or, for that matter, winning any of its remaining 11 games.
The Sonics were led by guard Ray Allen, who dropped in a season-high 40 points, including eight of Seattle’s 14 points in overtime. Three nights after sitting out with a sprained ankle against Milwaukee, and one night after a sluggish outing against Portland, Allen showed why he is a five-time NBA All-Star by converting 13 of 23 attempts from the field, including 6-for-11 from the 3-point line to go with 8-for-8 from the free throw line.
He was backed by the 30 points of forward Rashard Lewis, who returned after missing Thursday’s game in Portland with recurring knee tendinitis.
This was a nip-and-tuck affair almost from start to finish. Both teams had brief one-sided leads – Seattle was once up by nine points, the Knicks by 11 – but those were exceptions. For the most part, the margins swung between five points either way.
In the final six minutes, Seattle briefly led by four points, but otherwise the lead was three or less. Still, the Sonics seemed to have the game in hand after guard Luke Ridnour swished two free throws with 11 seconds left, giving Seattle a 95-92 lead against a team that was 1-for-16 from the
3-point stripe to that moment.
Yet after using their final timeout, the Knicks inbounded the ball to Tim Thomas left of the key. His spinning, off-balance 3-point try was dead center, knotting the game 95-95.
The Sonics, passing on a timeout, brought the ball quickly upcourt and Ridnour found Rashard Lewis under the basket. But Lewis took a split-second to gather himself and that was enough time for Kurt Thomas to come across the key and block Lewis’ dunk attempt. Lewis gathered the loose ball and lofted a desperation shot at the buzzer that missed.
The game was a homecoming for Seattle native and Rainier Beach High School graduate Jamal Crawford, who was making his first KeyArena appearance as a Knick after four seasons in Chicago. Crawford played 42 minutes and scored 12 points.
New York’s Malik Rose picked up a unusual technical foul in the waning seconds when he kicked a hole in the advertising panel at the front of the scorer’s table.
Friday’s game was attended by a gathering of 17,072, the team’s seventh sellout in the last eight KeyArena games.
Ahead for Seattle is Sunday night’s game with Washington, followed by a brief midweek road trip to Memphis and San Antonio, both possible playoff foes for the Sonics. From there Seattle moves into April and the remaining 11 games of its regular-season schedule, five at KeyArena.
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