Allen goes to work in overtime

SEATTLE – With each miss, each jumper that rimmed out or spun off, Ray Allen never lost his confidence. It paid off in overtime.

Struggling with his shot all night, Allen scored 11 of his 32 points in overtime, and the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 107-102 on Friday.

Allen was 7 for 24 from the field in regulation, but went 3 for 4 in overtime, including two 3-pointers, and scored all but two of Seattle’s points in the extra 5 minutes. At halftime, Allen was just 2 for 10 and Seattle had yet to make a 3-pointer.

“I never felt like I was out of rhythm. … I felt good the whole time,” Allen said.

Rashard Lewis added 19 points for Seattle, which went 33 for 36 from the free-throw line.

Kevin Garnett led the Timberwolves with 23 points.

Tied at 94 after regulation, Wally Szczerbiak scored to open the extra session, but Allen answered with a jumper and Seattle’s third 3-pointer of the night with 3:06 left.

Marko Jaric scored for Minnesota, but Allen made a free throw and his second 3-pointer of overtime put Seattle up for good at 103-98 with 1:30 left.

Minnesota got within 103-100 on two free throws by Garnett, but he missed a runner in the lane with less than a minute remaining, and Michael Olowokandi missed a short jumper with 22 seconds left.

Luke Ridnour and Allen made four free throws in the final 20 seconds for Seattle.

“It wouldn’t be a good atmosphere in here if we didn’t get that win tonight,” said Danny Fortson, who had nine points and eight rebounds off the bench for Seattle. “Nobody wanted to come into this locker room 0-2.”

Ridnour and Nick Collison each added 10 points for Seattle, while Jaric had 20 for Minnesota.

It was the first win for Seattle coach Bob Weiss. First-year Minnesota coach Dwane Casey made his first return trip to Seattle, where he was an assistant for 11 years. Casey won his opener on Wednesday night against Portland, and his former head coach in Seattle, Nate McMillan.

“We won against a good team and we’re still not playing great basketball,” Weiss said. “I’m very happy. This was an amazing win.”

Seattle appeared on its way to its first win, leading 88-80 on a layup by Mateen Cleaves, the Sonics’ biggest since it was 7-0.

Stuck on the bench with foul trouble, Szczerbiak returned and scored six straight points for Minnesota.

On defense, he drew a charge erasing a basket by Cleaves, and then assisted on Jaric’s 3-pointer with 4:27 left that got the Timberwolves within 90-89.

Szczerbiak missed two chances to give the Wolves the lead and Lewis converted a three-point play to put Seattle up 93-89 with 3:19 left.

After exchanging free throws, Garnett scored and Szczerbiak’s dunk with 1:02 left pulled Minnesota even at 94.

Seattle had two chances to win in the final 35 seconds. Matched up one-on-one with Garnett, Allen drove for a layup, but missed. The scramble for the loose ball went out of bounds and Seattle regained possession with 19 seconds left.

On their final possession, Allen got the ball at the top of the key, but his fallaway 17-footer over Trenton Hassell and a helping Olowokandi at the buzzer fell short.

Szczerbiak added 16 points and Olowokandi had 11 points and 10 rebounds for Minnesota. Fortson provided a spark of energy early in the fourth quarter as Seattle rallied from a 78-73 deficit after three quarters.

Sonics 107, T-Wolves 102 (OT)

Percentages: FG .477, FT .737. 3-Point Goals: 6-24, .250 (Jaric 4-7, Hudson 1-3, Frahm 1-5, McCants 0-1, Griffin 0-3, Szczerbiak 0-5). Team Rebounds: 8. Team Turnovers: 19 (21 PTS). Blocked Shots: 6 (Griffin 4, Garnett, Olowokandi). Turnovers: 19 (Olowokandi 6, Garnett 5, Jaric 3, Szczerbiak 2, Hassell, Dupree, Frahm). Steals: 9 (Garnett 3, Griffin 2, Szczerbiak, Hassell, Dupree, Jaric). Technical Fouls: Defensive Three Second, 10:44 first; Delay Of Game, 11:09 second.

Percentages: FG .422, FT .917. 3-Point Goals: 4-25, .160 (Allen 3-13, Radmanovic 1-3, Ridnour 0-1, Cleaves 0-1, Wilkins 0-1, Lewis 0-6). Team Rebounds: 15. Team Turnovers: 23 (18 PTS). Blocked Shots: 4 (Collison, Ridnour, Fortson, Petro). Turnovers: 21 (Lewis 4, Allen 4, Ridnour 4, Murray 3, Fortson 3, Evans, Cleaves, Wilkins). Steals: 10 (Ridnour 4, Allen 3, Lewis, Evans, Petro). Technical Fouls: None.

A—17,072 (17,072). T—2:54.