SEATTLE — Break out the bubbly, the Seattle SuperSonics earned their first three-game winning streak of the season, an 86-85 nail biter over the New York Knicks Saturday night.
With the win, Seattle swept the two-game series with the Knicks, the first team they’ve swept this season.
During this winning streak the Sonics have figured out how to make plays in order to win games down the stretch
Seattle rookie Kevin Durant drained another game-winner, this time pouring in a 3-pointer from the wing over New York’s Quentin Richardson with 54.5 seconds remaining.
Seattle native Jamal Crawford drained a floater for the Knicks down the middle of the lane to cut Seattle’s lead back to a single point, 86-85 with 45 seconds remaining.
The Sonics (12-35) set up a play going to the basket, but Durant was stripped driving to the hole and New York (14-33) had the final shot with 19.8 seconds left.
New York dumped the ball into Zach Randolph. But Seattle doubled the smooth-shooting lefty in the corner, forcing him to pass out of the double team.
Nate Robinson’s 3-pointer clanged off the rim, and Chris Wilcox tipped the ball to backcourt where Delonte West chased it down to run out the clock.
“I put trust in my teammates that they would rotate,” said Earl Watson, who went down and doubled on Randolph to get the ball out of his hands. “Zach (Randolph) is the guy they want to go to. Zach has hit big shots, and he’s done it his whole career. Kurt (Thomas) played good defense on him and made him fumble, and when he turned his back I went as soon as I could hoping to get a deflection or just take time off the clock.”
Durant finished with 21 points and seven rebounds, only shooting 7-of-21 from the floor. But he made some key baskets late in the game to help close out the win. Wilcox had another strong game inside for Seattle, finishing with 20 points and 10 rebounds. And Seattle played another solid game defensively, holding New York to 39.5 percent shooting from the floor, and outrebounding the Knicks 55-34, including 19-3 advantage on the offensive rebounds.
“If you told me before the game it would be 19 to 3 I would not have thought it would have been in our favor,” Seattle coach P.J. Carlesimo said about the offensive rebounds. “Our guys did a great job and our guys battled on the boards.”
Crawford, a Seattle native, finished with 23 points for the Knicks, while Randolph totaled 24 points and five rebounds.
The game was evenly played throughout, with neither team leading by more than seven points.
Seattle trailed 38-34 at halftime, failing to take advantage of New York playing in the second game of a back-to-back without 6-foot-11, 285-pound bruiser Eddy Curry, who missed the game with the flu.
Crawford scored 14 of his 23 points in the first half, while New York’s other Seattle native, Nate Robinson, struggled from the field, finishing 0-of-9 from the floor with five points.
Seattle struggled from the field as well, shooting 32-of-72 (44.4 percent) for the game, but managed to overcome poor shooting by hitting the offensive glass and getting out in transition. The Sonics finished with 18 second-chance points and eight fast-break points.
“Throughout the game shots were not falling for us consistently so we had to make up for it on the defensive end,” said Damien Wilkins, who got his first start since Dec. 27 and played solid, finishing with eight points and seven rebounds. “And we did that. We got stops when we needed to. We got rebounds when we needed to. And we got some easy baskets when we needed to, so that helped us.”
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