Sonics can’t hold on
SEATTLE – Luol Deng had 27 points and 12 rebounds, Andres Nocioni supplied the pivotal scoring down the stretch, and the Chicago Bulls beat the struggling Seattle SuperSonics 107-101 Friday night.
Kirk Hinrich added 20 points and nine assists for Chicago, which won for the fourth time in five games. The Bulls are 1-1 on their seven-game trip through the West.
Nocioni had five points through three quarters. But after Seattle took a 97-95 lead with 3:23 left, Nocioni made two free throws, then completed a three-point play to put Chicago back up for good 102-97 with 1:22 remaining.
Ray Allen had 29 points despite a 9-of-28 shooting night for the Sonics, who lost for the fifth time in six games since a season high-tying three-game winning streak.
Emerging center Nick Collison added 20 points and 12 rebounds for his eighth double-double in 11 games. But he fouled out with 44 seconds left.
Luke Ridnour’s consecutive 3-pointers with less than 9 minutes remaining erased all the nine-point lead Chicago had built in the third quarter. After Ridnour’s second 3 rattled in to tie it at 83, embattled Sonics coach Bob Hill pumped both arms while Ridnour and Earl Watson exchanged leaping hip bumps.
The Sonics got the lead back with 3:23 left following Allen’s 3-pointer and Collison’s two-handed dunk plus a free throw. Collison’s play, which gave Seattle that 97-95 edge, came off a gorgeous, leaping bounce pass from under the basket from Ridnour. The KeyArena crowd was roaring.
But Seattle then went nearly 3 minutes without scoring, and yet another game slipped away.
Allen played in neon-yellow Air Jordans fresh out of a box he said were stored in the foyer of his home. After three quarters, it looked like those shoes should go back in the foyer.
Allen missed 14 of his first 19 shots – a day after the 26.6 points-per-game scorer and six-time All-Star was snubbed from the newest All-Star team. He scored just one point and was 0-of-6 shooting in the third quarter, when Chicago seized a nine-point lead.
At least the shoes worked for Allen in the final quarter, when he scored 12 points.
The Bulls got an unexpected boost when center Ben Wallace decided he could play. At the morning shoot-around, he had told coach Scott Skiles that he felt “uncomfortable” moving laterally on a right knee he bruised last Saturday against Miami.
But the four-time NBA defensive player of the year started – though he wasn’t much of a factor. He missed his only shot, had two rebounds and one blocked shot in 23 minutes.
In his previous game against Seattle on Dec. 13, Wallace had season highs of 15 points and 20 rebounds and added five blocks.
The Sonics led by as many as eight points in the first half, behind Allen’s 16 points and 13 points and six rebounds from Collison, whom Wallace was defending for most of the time both were on the floor.
Notes
Skiles said trainer Fred Tedeschi is concerned Wallace may not yet be ready to play on consecutive nights. So Wallace may miss today’s game at Portland. … Hill said Rashard Lewis, Seattle’s second-leading scorer who missed his 20th consecutive game because a tendon injury in his right hand, has been cleared to practice and could play next weekend. … Hill, responding to speculation he may soon get fired for a third time in his nine NBA seasons as a head man: “You know, when coaches get fired, you don’t die. YOU DON’T DIE.” Hill is 39-60 in 13 months since taking over for Bob Weiss.