EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Seattle SuperSonics are coming home empty handed.
The New Jersey Nets made sure of that, with the experienced squad crisply executing a 99-88 win over the Sonics Wednesday night at the Izod Center.
Seattle finished its road swing 0-4 — albeit all four losses came against playoff-caliber opponents.
The setback was Seattle’s third straight double-digit loss on the road trip, and fifth straight loss overall.
The Nets have won eight of their past 10 games.
Still, the same mistakes continue to haunt this team — turnovers, lack of offensive cohesion and long stretches during the game where Seattle failed to score.
Seattle coach P.J. Carlesimo said the Sonics need to get back to the identity they created for themselves at the beginning of the season — playing good defense, sharing the ball, playing with energy and competing.
“I don’t think we’ve been representative three games in a row of the way we’ve played all year,” Carlesimo said. “So that’s a major problem.”
Point guard Earl Watson said one of reasons the Sonics lack energy is the absence of Chris Wilcox, the team’s second-leading scorer. Except for the first quarter of the Phoenix game, Wilcox missed the entire road trip with a dislocated right pinkie finger. Wilcox will be a game-time decision against Dallas at home on Saturday.
“You talk about energy, Chris is that guy that brings that type of play to our team,” Watson said. “He runs the court and gets big-time dunks. And dunks can change the momentum of a game.
“He brings a different aspect to our team. Our bigs are playing good now, but he can change the game so easily, so quickly, so we definitely miss him a lot and it shows.”
Watson also said Seattle’s recent struggles are a sign of a young team figuring out how to deal with adversity.
“You learn by stumbling,” Watson said. “You don’t ever start out of the gates and everything is perfect. You have to learn by stumbling a little bit, falling down and getting back up. That’s how you learn mental toughness. And that’s how you learn how to overcome obstacles as a team and as a unit.
“When you go through a lot of situations like this, it builds character.”
The Nets big three of Jason Kidd, Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter proved no match for Seattle. The trio combined for 62 of the Nets’ 99 points.
The Sonics were lead by Nick Collison’s eighth double-double of the season — Collison finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Seattle rookie Kevin Durant, feeling better after he twisted his left ankle against Cleveland on Tuesday, finished with 15 points. And Johan Petro came off of the bench to tie a career-high with 22 points. Petro also grabbed nine rebounds.
“It’s probably his best game all year,” Carlesimo said about Petro’s performance. “It’s certainly his best offensive game. … He took a couple major steps forward tonight.
New Jersey took a 30-21 lead at the end of the first quarter and held Seattle at bay for the rest of the contest, with Kidd expertly running the show for the Nets, finishing with 16 points, 11 assists and five rebounds. Kidd failed to notch a triple-double for a fourth straight game, but seemed to create a basket for the Nets every time the Sonics got within striking distance.
Jefferson led New Jersey with 28 points and Carter finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
Even though Seattle returns home the schedule doesn’t get any easier, with the Sonics hosting Dallas on Friday and the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday before returning to the road to face New Orleans, Memphis, Dallas again and Houston on a four-game swing.
“This is the time of year where the better teams are getting in gear and getting tougher, not easier to play,” Carlesimo said. “So we can’t afford to not be doing all of the things that we do well. And a big part of what we do well is to play hard, and play with some passion.”
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