Sonics continue slide with blowout by Wizards

WASHINGTON – Bob Weiss ran out of ways to chastise the Seattle SuperSonics after they allowed the Washington Wizards’ most points in 11 1/2 years, so he left the locker room and told his players to hash it out themselves.

Then the first-year coach began contemplating how to fix things, saying lineup changes might be in store after three straight lopsided losses. The latest was Washington’s 137-96 victory Friday night, behind Gilbert Arenas’ 32 points in 31 minutes.

Weiss kept the locker room closed for 25 minutes afterward, then gave a sampling of what he told his beleaguered team, 1-4 after reaching the playoffs last season.

“It was an embarrassment. We have to become accountable. We’ve got to become more aggressive. We’ve got to take it personal,” Weiss said. “We’re letting teams manhandle us. We’ve got to get more physical. We have to get after people. We’ve got to have more pride. We’re just in a funk. We’re out there stumbling around. We’re not competing. It was just completely unacceptable.”

Reserve Caron Butler led a strong effort at both ends for the Wizards, scoring 24 points and getting his teammates, the sellout crowd of 20,173 and even coach Eddie Jordan excited.

Jamison added 19 points and 11 rebounds, and rookie Andray Blatche – shot during an attempted carjacking in September – made his NBA debut, scoring five points.

Washington (4-1) outscored Seattle 42-24 in the second quarter, when the SuperSonics were 3 of 16 on field-goal attempts. The Wizards went up by as many as 25 in the first half and led 71-49 at the break en route to their highest output since a 142-100 victory over Boston on April 17, 1994.

Seattle is on a season-long six-game road trip and dropped the first three – by 25, 27 and 41 points.

“I never experienced this ever in my career. Not just my NBA career, but my career overall,” said Reggie Evans, a fourth-year forward. “It just gets worse. It seems like we can’t stop the bleeding. Just constant, constant, constant bleeding. We haven’t found a Band-Aid to patch it up yet.”

The SuperSonics shot 40 percent for the game. They haven’t topped 45 percent this season.

Rashard Lewis, who left Wednesday’s defeat at Cleveland with a left shoulder injury, started and scored 17 points.

Ray Allen also had 17, but he was 4 for 14 from the floor, 1 for 9 on 3-pointers – stifled in large part by former teammate Antonio Daniels.

“Mentally, it just got worse,” Allen said. “And physically, you’re just running up and down the floor and it seemed like everything just went their way. Again, I know we’ll recover from this.”

Weiss spent a good chunk of the first half working the refs (he was charged with a technical foul, one of four in the game), calling timeouts and shuttling players in and out – anything to try to get his team going. Nothing worked.

“We’re going to watch this entire tape,” Weiss said, “and we’re going to take responsibility, all of us, to see what we’re doing wrong.”

Wizards 137, SuperSonics 96

Percentages: FG .397, FT .730. 3-Point Goals: 7-23, .304 (Ridnour 2-2, Lewis 2-4, Wilkins 1-2, Murray 1-3, Allen 1-9, Cleaves 0-1, Radmanovic 0-2). Team Rebounds: 9. Team Turnovers: 17 (29 PTS). Blocked Shots: 1 (Lewis). Turnovers: 17 (Murray 4, Allen 3, Collison 2, Ridnour 2, Fortson 2, Moore 2, Lewis, Evans). Steals: 6 (Allen 2, Lewis, Evans, Ridnour, Wilkins). Technical Fouls: Coach Weiss, 8:54 second; Fortson, 5:03 fourth.

Percentages: FG .585, FT .805. 3-Point Goals: 8-17, .471 (Arenas 4-7, Hayes 2-4, Jamison 2-4, Atkins 0-1, Butler 0-1). Team Rebounds: 11. Team Turnovers: 12 (9 PTS). Blocked Shots: 2 (Haywood 2). Turnovers: 12 (Jeffries 3, Jamison 2, Butler 2, E.Thomas, Haywood, Arenas, Blatche, Daniels). Steals: 10 (Hayes 2, Jamison 2, Butler 2, Daniels 2, Arenas, Storey). Technical Fouls: Atkins, 55.8 second; Arenas, 39.6 second.

A – 20,173 (20,173). T – 2:17.