HOUSTON – The Seattle SuperSonics avoided their first three-game losing streak of the season by defeating the Houston Rockets Tuesday night.
And, really, they have no idea how they did it.
Despite one of their worst shooting nights of the season, despite looking utterly fatigued and despite giving up 30 points to Yao Ming, the Sonics pulled out an 87-85 victory before 17,239 at Toyota Center that had them as jubilant as if they had just won a playoff series.
“I know why we won,” Ray Allen said, “but it is one of those questions you wonder about.”
The victory snapped Houston’s league-high eight-game win streak, which is the third time this season the Sonics have interrupted a league-high winning streak. They also broke Miami’s 14-game streak and San Antonio’s eight-gamer, at the same time breaking the Spurs’ 21-game home streak.
Afterward, the Sonics talked about stellar defense. They also spoke of the hustle plays. And they pointed to an aggression that seemed to be missing from their previous two games, both losses, against Golden State and Dallas that left them feeling somewhat apprehensive over the All-Star break.
“We looked like we wanted this game,” Sonics coach Nate McMillan said.
At least they did on the defensive end because offensively they were putrid.
They made just 4 of 25 3-pointers, shooting 16 percent from the distance that distinguishes them from most of the league. They shot 36.5 percent from the field. And they even shot relatively poorly from the line (75 percent), missing seven free throws, including four misses by Rashard Lewis, whose mother and stepfather sat courtside.
“Rhythm,” said Allen, who scored 29 points though he was 0-for-6 from 3-point range. “Ra (Lewis) and I went off to the rigmarole of the All-Star break. Everybody else went and did their own thing. And then we came back and only had one practice.”
At that practice, though, McMillan was as intense as he has been all season, preaching defense and allowing his players to offer no excuses for failing to play hard.
Those exhortations seemed to take hold in the fourth quarter, when the Sonics came back from an 80-71 deficit with 4:41 to play and outscored Houston (32-22), a possible first-round playoff opponent, 16-5 to end the game.
The comeback started with five consecutive points by Lewis, a Houston native who had 70 friends and family members attend the game. Then Vladimir Radmanovic made a pivotal 3 to cut the lead to 80-79 with 3:21 to go.
After the teams rallied back and forth for a few minutes, Houston retained an 84-83. That’s when McMillan made the unusual decision to place Jerome James back in the game to guard Yao.
To that point, Yao was dominant, hitting 11-of-16 shots on a virtually unstoppable shot. James and McMillan had words in the third quarter because James missed five straight shots trying to outplay Yao.
But James delivered when called upon. Yao got the ball in the post, executed a spin move – and was called for an offensive foul for hooking James. It was Yao’s sixth foul, disqualifying him.
“I was so happy when they called it against him,” James said. “I told the ref thank you and ran down court so he wouldn’t change the call.”
It changed the complexion of the game because that left everything to Houston’s other All-Star, Tracy McGrady, whose shots also were errant.
After Lewis missed a jump hook, McGrady tried to drive to the basket. Lewis reached in and stripped him. Luke Ridnour collected the loose ball and fired it ahead to Allen, who had an uncontested dunk for an 85-84 lead.
McGrady missed another shot. Dikembe Mutombo got the rebound and was fouled.
He made the first foul shot, tying the game. Then the Sonics iced him with a timeout.
His second shot hit the back rim, caromed off strong and hit several hands as it went flying out of bounds. Allen sprinted after it, as did David Wesley.
Wesley bumped Allen into the Sonics’ bench and was called for a foul, enraging the Rockets.
“If I was on the other end, I would not have wanted that call to decide the game,” Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy said.
Allen went to the free throw line and made both, giving Seattle an 87-85 edge.
“Those are the plays that win you games,” McMillan said.
On the final play, Lewis played wonderful defense against McGrady. He forced him left and made him pass the ball to Scott Padgett in the corner. Padgett was wide open. His 23-foot jump shot went 22 feet, brushing only the bottom of the net.
After, the Sonics ran around the court in disbelief. Lewis took the ball and hurled it to the sky as the Sonics huddled in the middle of the court.
“You can’t really look at the stat sheets on this one,” Lewis said. “We kind of stole this one.”
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