Jazz Not Super Against Sonics

Jazz Not Super Against Sonics


Save Story
Leer en espaƱol

Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

By DOUG ALDEN

AP Sports Writer

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Ray Allen didn't need to win this one at the buzzer. His jumper 24 seconds into the game put the Seattle SuperSonics up for good.

Allen finished with 22 points and six assists to lead Seattle to a 113-94 victory over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday, giving the Sonics their first back-to-back wins since Bob Hill took over as coach.

"It seems like teams always get off to a slow start here. But we practiced pretty well for it and we were able to run and keep the ball moving," said Allen, who made five of Seattle's seven 3-pointers.

Allen hit a 30-footer at the second-overtime buzzer Sunday in Seattle's 152-149 victory at Phoenix. There wasn't any drama in this one after Seattle opened the game with an 11-2 run, but the Sonics were just as happy with a rout in their second win at Utah this season.

Seattle is on its first winning streak since beating Portland and Washington in mid-December.

Luke Ridnour added 17 points and seven assists and Rashard Lewis scored 16 for Seattle. Robert Swift added 12 rebounds in his second career start and the Sonics shot 53 percent from the floor, going 7-for-13 from 3-point range.

"We've been saying for a long time this team is more than just myself and Rashard," Allen said.

Andrei Kirilenko had 24 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the Jazz. Mehmet Okur had 20 points and 13 boards for Utah.

The Sonics didn't allow Utah to even tie it from the time Allen put them ahead 2-0 with a 9-foot jump shot. Allen made five of six of his 3-point attempts, including three straight during one stretch of the first quarter.

Seattle improved to 4-7 since Hill took over after Bob Weiss was fired Jan. 3.

"The biggest challenge tonight was to embrace the pace of the game and they did it again," Hill said. "I thought that's one of the few times in my career that any of my teams have been able to take Utah out of their offense and make them search for shots."

The Jazz, who were just 4-for-16 on 3-pointers, haven't won back-to-back games in two weeks.

Utah had only 10 players available because of injuries, but the Sonics had just 11 and only played 10 of them. Every member of the Sonics scored at least five points and Ronald Murray, who scored 12, was the only Seattle player without a rebound.

"We only had about three or four possessions where we got up and played people," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "That was the only life we had. Somewhere along the line we need to defend people so we can compete."

The Sonics nearly let Utah back into it at the beginning of the second half when Okur hit a 3-pointer to cap a 7-0 run. But Seattle responded with 11 straight points and held a double-figure lead the rest of the game.

Every time the Jazz would make a slight run, the Sonics would come back with a bigger one and extend the margin. Okur got Utah within 69-57 on back-to-back jumpers, then Mikki Moore started an 11-2 run for Seattle with a jumper.

"We did a terrible job altogether trying to defend them," Sloan said.

Damien Wilkins, who scored 15 for Seattle, converted a three-point play with 1:04 left in the third quarter to complete the run and put the Sonics ahead 80-59. Moore added a jumper in the lane at the end of the period and Seattle led 82-64.

Notes@: F Reggie Evans was the only member of the Sonics not to play. ... Lewis had a three-point play during a 7-0 run in the second quarter on a dunk through a hard foul by Greg Ostertag that got several Sonics off the bench cheering. ... Milt Palacio and Deron Williams both scored 11 for Utah.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV-01-25-06 2234MST

Most recent Utah Jazz stories

Related topics

Utah Jazz
KSL.com Beyond Series

KSL Weather Forecast

KSL Weather Forecast
Play button