SEATTLE – Fans at KeyArena had the chance to witness history on Tuesday night.
Alas, it was a record for futility – a franchise-low six points in the third quarter for the Seattle SuperSonics – and that drought was too much of an obstacle to overcome in a 97-95 loss to the Houston Rockets.
Never in 38 previous seasons – from the days of Walt Hazzard, Tom Meschery and Tommy “Crash” Kron to the present – have the Sonics been so inept offensively in a single period. Three times they have scored just eight points, most recently last season in a March 12 game at Miami. But never seven points. And never, until Tuesday night, six points.
It was enough to make Seattle coach Nate McMillan smash his clipboard, which he did as the team returned to the bench in the timeout between the third and fourth quarters.
McMillan’s outburst “was startling to me,” said guard Ray Allen, who was unaware the Sonics had been so hapless. “We’d only scored six points, but I didn’t realize it. Now, looking back at the game, that’s the reason we lost. I mean, that was one of the worst quarters we’ve played this year.”
In the third quarter, the Sonics were 3-for-14 from the field, all 2-pointers, and they did not get to the free throw line. In one stretch of seven minutes, they went scoreless. Seattle, which had 17 assists at halftime, had only one in the third quarter and a whopping seven turnovers.
On the scoreboard, Seattle went from a nine-point halftime margin to a seven-point deficit heading into the final quarter. From there the Sonics got their offense jump-started, and for most of the last 51/2 minutes Houston’s margin was never more than three points until the final meaningless seconds when the visitors briefly led by five.
Seattle even regained a momentary lead with three minutes left on a pair of Vlade Radmanovic free throws, but from there Houston’s All-Star tandem of forward Tracy McGrady and center Yao Ming had seven points and six points respectively to seal the victory.
The Sonics “were hot in the first half,” McGrady said. “They were making big shots with our hands up. They were knocking them down from everywhere. But in the third quarter we were more focused and more determined … and we did a great job of shutting them down.”
Though Seattle missed chances to win in the late minutes, “we still scored 30 points in the fourth quarter,” McMillan said. “But in the third quarter, we didn’t have any ball movement and we had too many turnovers.”
At the end, he added, Seattle had 17 turnovers for 22 Houston points, “and that’s the ballgame.”
“If we lose, we want to lose to them,” said Sonics guard Antonio Daniels. “We don’t want to beat ourselves. But tonight I think we felt like we beat ourselves.”
The defeat was Seattle’s second in a row at KeyArena and dropped the team’s home mark to 21-10. By contrast, the Sonics are 20-8 on the road; they are one of just two NBA teams (Phoenix is the other) to have a better road record than home record.
In addition, Seattle has lost five of its past 10 games at KeyArena, which is hardly an encouraging trend with the playoffs on the horizon.
“We look at every loss at home like a missed opportunity,” Daniels said. “Throughout the course of the season, we want to win all our games at home. But sometimes that’s easier said than done, especially when you’re playing against teams like this. We still have 23 games left, though, so we can’t put our heads down. We have to keep our heads up and move forward.”
Following Sunday’s setback against Phoenix, Seattle has now lost back-to-back games for just the fourth time this season. The Sonics will need to beat Chicago at home on Friday night to avoid losing three straight games for the first time in 2004-05.
Seattle got a scare late in the first half when Daniels collapsed in pain on the court after taking a knee to the thigh from Houston’s Yao Ming on a screen. Daniels immediately went to the locker room for treatment and returned in the third quarter. Afterward he said he felt fine, but he ended up going scoreless for the first time this season, attempting just one field goal in 17 minutes.
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