Allen scores 38 points in Seattle win; Radmanovic out 4-6 weeks

SEATTLE — Chris Jent didn’t bring any magic to Orlando, and the Seattle SuperSonics didn’t miss Vladimir Radmanovic.

Ray Allen tied his season high with 38 points, and the short-handed Sonics broke a three-game home losing streak with a 98-90 victory over Orlando on Friday night in Jent’s debut as the Magic’s head coach.

Prior to the game, the Sonics learned they’ll be without Radmanovic (stress fracture in his leg) for 4-6 weeks. Although it looked as if Allen were trying to carry his team, the five-time All-Star guard insisted that wasn’t the case as Seattle rebounded from consecutive home defeats to Phoenix, Houston and Chicago.

“We played the way we want to play, the way we’re capable of playing,” Allen said.

The Magic suffered their seventh consecutive defeat, a season high, in their first game under their 35-year-old interim coach. Jent took over after Johnny Davis was fired on Thursday.

A former first-year assistant on Davis’ staff, Jent was critical of himself after the game.

“I felt like I didn’t prepare my team or adjust well enough,” he said. “Just pointing out small details is not enough. We have to do a better job than that. I failed them in that regard.”

But the Magic players gave Jent an ‘A’ for effort.

“Chris is a good coach,” rookie Dwight Howard said. “He’s learning how to lead a team. I could tell he was a little nervous. We just got to sell out to him and know he’s going to do the best job he can to help us win. He’s more like a player-coach because he’s so young.”

The Sonics also were without starting center Jerome James, who has a right quad contusion, and reserve forward Danny Fortson, who has a sprained left ankle.

Allen had three of his baskets and 12 points in the fourth quarter and got some surprise help from little-used center Vitaly Potapenko, who contributed three key field goals.

Potapenko put in a short hook shot to put the Sonics ahead 77-75 with 9:42 left. He hit an 11-foot shot with 7:07 left to put Seattle in front 81-77 and made a 15-footer with 4:14 on the clock to give the Sonics an 87-83 lead.

“We have a very deep team here and some guys have to come off the bench,” Potapenko said. “I practice those shots every day.”

Potapenko thinks the Sonics will be able to survive the final five weeks of their regular season without Radmanovic.

“He’s a weapon, especially in 3-point shooting, he’s a weapon,” he said. “His mobility on the court. But this is part of the game. Everybody has injuries and we have to adjust.”

Allen did say it was important to show that the Sonics aren’t a team in turmoil.

After a loss Wednesday night at Detroit, Sonics forward Rashard Lewis told reporters that, “it seems like other guys are on different agendas. Some guys were trying to win, some guys weren’t.”

Allen complained about his role in the offense and about playing a season-low 28 minutes.

“We lost the game and we all took it hard,” Allen said Friday night. “We know how we feel about each other. We just had to come out here and just play and do what we do. Play hard and play together. We’ve showed that we’re good when we play together and that’s what we did tonight.”

Lewis, Allen’s fellow All-Star, looked fatigued, but managed 13 points on 4-for-13 shooting.