Sixers put stop to SuperSonics

SEATTLE – The Seattle SuperSonics are glad they only have to see Allen Iverson twice a season.

Iverson scored 34 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter, and the Philadelphia 76ers won their third straight game by defeating the SuperSonics 114-107 Tuesday night.

Iverson, the NBA’s leading scorer, hit 13 of 30 attempts and had seven assists.

“He’s good,” said Luke Ridnour, Seattle’s second-year starting point guard. “He’s an All-Star guard and he’s attacking all the time. He shot 30 times, so it’s tough to guard someone like that when they’re having the ball that much. He’s pretty fast.”

Ray Allen had 32 points, including 19 in the final period for the Northwest Division-leading Sonics (20-6).

The 76ers beat a Western Conference team for the third straight time after starting the season 0-8 against opponents from the West. They’ve won seven of their last nine overall.

Philadelphia never relinquished its lead in the second half.

Allen cut the Sonics’ deficit to 87-81 with a layup in the first 20 seconds of the fourth quarter, but Kyle Korver hit a 3-pointer, Corliss Williamson converted a three-point play and Iverson responded with a 3-pointer to put the 76ers in front 96-81 with 2:14 gone in the final period. The Sonics never threatened after that.

For the Sonics, Ridnour had 16 points and nine assists, while Reggie Evans had a season-high 14 points.

The Sonics cut their deficit to three points three times in the third quarter, the last time at with 3:49 to go on two free throws by Allen. The 76ers outscored Seattle 11-6 after that.

Radmanovic said the 76ers had a lot to do with his team’s poor outside shooting.

“They were pretty aggressive on our pick and rolls,” he said. “They took us out of a lot of things we wanted to run.”