Sonics win third straight
DENVER – Ray Allen scored 30 points Tuesday night to help the Seattle SuperSonics prolong Denver’s early-season misery with a 108-88 victory.
Rashard Lewis scored 27 points, Luke Ridnour had 11 assists, and the Sonics, not viewed by many as a playoff team this year, improved to a surprising 3-1.
Carmelo Anthony scored 20 points for the Nuggets, who are considered playoff contenders this season, but who fell to 1-4 with the NBA champion Detroit Pistons coming to town next.
Andre Miller had 18 for Denver before he and Antonio Daniels were ejected for a minor scuffle late in the fourth quarter.
Before the game, Nuggets coach Jeff Bzdelik conceded the team’s effort had been lacking during this early slump, which included a 24-point home loss to Utah last weekend in which the Nuggets were booed off their home court.
Bzdelik’s team played with a bit more energy against the Sonics, but still got out-hustled and outplayed from beginning to end.
It started with Allen, who scored 16 of his points in the first quarter to help the Sonics to an early 11-point lead, and hit three 3s during a five-minute stretch of the third in which Seattle increased its lead from five to 14.
The lead never got less than 10 in the fourth quarter, and the booing started in earnest at about the 6-minute mark, when Seattle’s Reggie Evans moved under the basket uncontested for a rebound and layup that made it 96-79.
A few minutes later, Miller pushed Daniels to the floor and Daniels stuck his foot out and tripped Miller – a minor scrap at best that still resulted in early exits for both players.
The Sonics, who made 122 more 3-pointers than the next-best team last season, went 10 for 23 from behind the line as part of a 49-percent shooting night. Lewis finished 10 for 16 and Allen was 12 for 18, as the Sonics persistently worked the ball around for open shots.
That was supposed to be Denver’s way of doing things, too, but too often the Nuggets stood around watching one of their players try to do things by himself.
Often the culprit was Anthony, known for taking a lot of outside shots for a 6-foot-8 forward. But Anthony was more aggressive than in recent games. He finished 8 for 15 from the floor, but made it to the free-throw line just three times.
Marcus Camby and Kenyon Martin combined for 14 boards, the same number Evans grabbed on his own for Seattle.
Sonics coach Nate McMillan said he wouldn’t limit his players’ minutes even though his team plays again today against Sacramento.
True to his word, Allen played 40 minutes, Lewis played 38 and two other starters logged more than 30.