Durant, Green spark Sonics

SEATTLE – Kevin Durant scored a season-high 37 points and fellow rookie Jeff Green had a season-high 35 to lead the Seattle SuperSonics to a 151-147 double-overtime victory over Denver on Sunday night, damaging the Nuggets’ playoff hopes.

Green, whose previous high was 23, scored 24 in the second half and overtime. His five quick points to start the second overtime gave the draft-lottery-bound Sonics (18-59) the winning cushion.

Durant was coming off his worst shooting night of the season, when he was 2 of 17 to finish with four points in a loss to Houston on Friday night.

Carmelo Anthony, who scored 47 points Saturday in a 118-115 loss to Sacramento, led the Nuggets with 38 points. Allen Iverson added 26 points and Kenyon Martin had 22.

The loss kept the Nuggets in a tie with Golden State for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Warriors lost to New Orleans 108-96 earlier Sunday.

This was the first of four straight road games for Denver, which visits Golden State on Thursday. The Nuggets dropped to 16-22 on the road, the worst record among the West’s postseason contenders.

The Sonics need to win their final six games just to match their franchise-low mark of 23 wins set in their inaugural season of 1967-68.

Seattle, which led by six at intermission, had an 11-point lead until a 17-9 run by the Nuggets pulled them to 86-83 with 4:39 left in the third.

However, an alley-oop dunk by Green, on a pass from Durant, with 4:12 left charged up the crowd. The Sonics rode that momentum, holding off the Nuggets to maintain a 99-95 lead enter the fourth quarter.

The Nuggets went ahead for the first time in the second half at 105-103 on a fastbreak basket by J.R. Smith with 9:26 left. The lead then changed hands seven times and was tied four times over the final 9 minutes of regulation.

Linas Kleiza’s 3-pointer with 1:06 left gave the Nuggets a 126-123 lead. Coming out of a timeout, Durant answered with a 3 from the top of the key with 22 seconds left to send the game into overtime.

Neither team led by more than four point in the first overtime.

Martin missed a 24-footer as time expired to force a second overtime.

The Nuggets’ three previous victories over the Sonics include a 168-116 rout on March 16.