Super balanced
SEATTLE — Ray Allen didn’t have to do everything himself, and now his team is heading into the second round of the NBA playoffs.
Allen scored 30 points and Rashard Lewis added 10 of his 24 in the fourth quarter, leading the Seattle SuperSonics to a 122-118 win over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night.
The Sonics eliminated the Kings 4-1 and advanced in the playoffs for the first time since 1998. They’ll meet the survivor of the San Antonio-Denver series, which the Spurs lead 3-1.
Allen, coming off a 45-point performance in Game 4, was smothered by double teams all night, but the Sonics supported him with a solid team effort reflected by seven players scoring in double figures.
Reserve forward Nick Collison had 15 points and nine rebounds, Antonio Daniels scored 14, Jerome James added 11 points and six rebounds and Reggie Evans and Luke Ridnour each scored 10.
The Kings haven’t exited in the first round since 2000, when they lost a decisive fifth game to the Lakers. This year’s playoffs also marked the first time in franchise history they’d trailed 3-1 in a series.
Peja Stojakovic had 38 points and Mike Bibby 35, but Stojakovic missed his first six shots of the fourth quarter when the Kings needed him most. Up to that point, he’d shot 13-of-17 for 31 points.
Stojakovic finally connected, pulling Sacramento to 120-118 on a 3-pointer with 36 seconds to play, but Allen answered by splitting three defenders as he drove the lane for a layup with 12.8 seconds remaining.
Stojakovic missed another 3-point try, and the Kings’ final opportunity ended with 3.9 seconds remaining when Bibby missed from the right wing.
It touched off a celebration at the capacity-filled arena, with the Sonics massing at midcourt to congratulate each other as fans stood and waved thousands of yellow pompoms. James donned a garbage bag, a nod to his claim that the Kings gave him a bag to clean out his locker after they cut him as a rookie.
It looked like Stojakovic was finally going to end the talk about how he fades in the playoffs. He swished nearly everything he put up for three quarters after averaging 43 percent shooting in the first four games.
Then there was the defense by Bibby and Maurice Evans, who added 13 points and pestered Allen relentlessly.
Things turned when Seattle erased a 93-90 deficit going into the fourth. Collison, a defensive sideshow to Allen in Game 4 for of the three charges he drew in the final period, got his offense going this time.
His three-point play tied it at 95 with 9:32 remaining, then he took a feed from Daniels for an easy basket that put Seattle ahead 97-95 with 9:09 to go and sent the Kings into a timeout.
At that point, Sacramento had opened the final period 1-of-6, including four straight misses by Stojakovic. And after the timeout, Miller threw the ball into the stands.
The Kings got within 106-104 after Bibby drove for a bucket with 5:16 to play, but Lewis scored the next seven points and put Seattle up 113-104 on a 3-pointer with 3:28 on the clock.
Ridnour may have had the best highlight when he tipped a ball out of a crowd at midcourt, spun and backhanded a no-look pass to Lewis for a breakaway dunk in the second period.
It put the Sonics up 50-41 and got the crowd charged up, forcing a Sacramento timeout with 4:41 before halftime. But in this series, both teams showed they could rally from 20-plus points, so the margin meant nothing.
Sacramento heated up — especially Stojakovic. He made all four of his shots and scored 11 in the second period, finishing the half 9-of-10 from the floor as the Kings trailed 60-57 at the break.
Notes
Evans was assessed a flagrant foul for a swipe across Bibby’s face in the third… . Sacramento coach Rick Adelman, who has complained during the series about physical play by Evans and Seattle F Danny Fortson, was “really surprised, shocked” by the NBA’s $100,000 fine against Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy. “You’d better not talk about the officials, I guess,” he said.