Banged-up Sonics top Milwaukee

SEATTLE – Seattle SuperSonics forward Rashard Lewis went to his first All-Star game in Denver in February and paid close attention to all the players around him.

It’s showing.

Lewis scored 29 points and Luke Ridnour added a career-high 21, leading the Seattle SuperSonics to a 92-84 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night.

“Just being around all those guys, observing them and taking in every thing I could has helped me,” said Lewis of his All-Star experience.

The best advice though, came from Minnesota’s Kevin Garnett.

“He told me a lot of things I could work on during the summer to keep my body healthy and continue to play an 82-game season and play 35 and 40 minutes a night,” Lewis said. “It felt like he took me under his wing like I was his little brother.”

With the Sonics short-handed, Lewis had to play 40 minutes despite painful tendinitis in his left knee that has bothered him for half the season.

“It’s something that I can’t get rid of until the season is over so I’m going to have to hobble my way through it,” he said.

Playing without Ray Allen, who sprained his right ankle Sunday night against the Lakers in Los Angeles, the Northwest Division-leading Sonics won their third game in a row to improve their record to 46-20.

Lewis needed some scoring help and Ridnour, Seattle’s starting point guard, shot 6 for 11 and had six assists.

“There’s some guys down and we’ve just got to find ways to win,” said Ridnour, who averaged 19.7 points for Oregon in 2002-2003 before leaving for the NBA after his junior season. His previous career scoring high was 19.

Sonics coach Nate McMillan gave Ridnour the starting job in his second season because of Ridnour’s quickness.

“The one thing that I wanted at the beginning of the season was ball pressure and a fast tempo,” he said. “I thought Luke could bring that to the floor.”

The Sonics are 3-0 since losing top reserve Vladimir Radmanovic, who probably is lost for the remainder of the regular season because of a stress fracture in his right leg.

Michael Redd scored 22 points and Desmond Mason had 21 for the Bucks, the last-place team in the Central Division which beat the Sonics by 26 in Milwaukee less than a month ago. The Bucks have dropped five of seven.

Milwaukee lost its sixth in a row on the road and dropped to 0-12 on the road against Western Conference opponents this season.

“It helped that Ray didn’t play, but at the same time we beat them earlier with Ray in Milwaukee,” Redd said. “Seattle has a lot of weapons, a lot of firepower, a lot of shooters.”

Bucks coach Terry Porter was happy to see Allen on the bench in a stylish suit instead of a Sonics uniform.

“If we had to play them 10 times, I’d rather play them without Ray 10 times than with him,” Porter said.

Ronald Murray replaced Allen and had 13 points, but shot only 5 for 16.

Allen is day to day. McMillan said his ankle is not swollen too badly so McMillan is hopeful he can play Thursday night in Portland.