LOS ANGELES -- Down the stretch, when they needed a bucket, no one responded. The Sonics had nothing left for the final eight minutes of the game and in turn, watched a winnable game wither away, just like their playoff hopes.
A nearly eight-minute stretch without a field goal and an errant pass by Earl Watson in the final 20 seconds doomed the Sonics. They were outscored 14-5 in the final 7:28 and lost 96-91 to the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center.
Recovering from a miserable first half, the Sonics appeared in control after Rashard Lewis hit two free throws for an 86-82 lead and the Los Angeles Clippers were in the penalty for the rest of the quarter. But because of either stellar Los Angeles defense or Sonics ineptitude, they missed nine consecutive shots and Corey Maggette gave the Los Angeles Clippers the lead for good with two free throws on a controversial foul call.
After Ray Allen canned a 14-footer to knot the game at 91 with 46.1 seconds left, the Sonics responded with solid defense, forcing Corey Maggette to drive into the paint. He leaned for a jumper and tumbled onto the floor, prompting official Marc Davis to call a foul on Chris Wilcox. Television replays showed Wilcox made minimal contact with Corey Maggette.
"I mean I don't know, I thought maybe he tripped or something," Wilcox said. "They might have seen something that I didn't. I think that changed the momentum of the game. It was difficult because I didn't think I was in that (foul) situation. I didn't think I was in that play."
Following a timeout, Watson saw Nick Collison slip behind a screen but fired the ball 4 feet over his head and it sailed out of bounds. Chris Kaman hit the sealing free throws with 10.9 seconds left and the Sonics were headed to another demoralizing road loss against a team they are trying to catch in the Western Conference. The Sonics are now 6-22 on the road.
Seattle was 3-for-14 from the field in the fourth quarter and Lewis and Allen were a combined 14-for-39 from the field for 40 points, eight below their combined season average.
"I thought we pretty much (expletive) through the whole first half," Lewis said. "We coasted with them, we didn't jump on their necks. Obviously we didn't play as hard as we should have played in the first half."
When asked why, he said: "I don't know. It was just one of those nights."
Save his final pass, Watson had a splendid game, scoring 19 points with six assists. But the Sonics offense couldn't convert buckets in key stretches, including a handful of missed layups.
"We got good shots but just didn't make them," Sonics coach Bob Hill said. "I don't think Lewis gets any protection (from officials) whatsoever. We got to the foul line more often in the second half and we had our shots; we just didn't make them."
Hill didn't wait for any of his players to head through the tunnel when the halftime buzzer echoed; he appeared angry and disappointed with his club's effort.
Something occurred in that 14-minute span between halves because Seattle came out inspired in the third quarter, tallying 32 points on 59 percent shooting and just two of those were courtesy of Allen.
As they did in their win here on Nov. 22, the Sonics leaned on the broad shoulders of Lewis, who scored 12 points in the period as the Sonics shaved an eight-point deficit and turned it into a four-point lead after a Lewis steal dunk off an alley-oop pass from Luke Ridnour.
The Sonics were more aggressive defensively, contesting every shot in the paint and preventing Chris Kaman and Elton Brand from clearing space, just as they did when the Los Angeles Clippers wiped out Seattle 98-76 at KeyArena.
Wilcox, who wants so badly to prove the Los Angeles Clippers made a grave error by dealing him for Vladimir Radmanovic, scored eight in the period and changed the game's momentum with a vicious block of a Sam Cassell layup with 6:18 left in the period.
The Sonics carried none of the energy generated by Monday's 97-73 win over the Portland Trail Blazers into an important road game at Los Angeles on Wednesday. The Los Angeles Clippers were five games ahead of the Sonics for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
The Los Angeles Clippers used seven points each from Sam Cassell and Tim Thomas to extend their lead to 49-37 after a Sam Cassell layup with 1:48 left in the first half.
The Sonics didn't exactly respond with a desperation run -- they didn't seem capable of such urgency, but they kept the game within striking distance, led by a four-point play from Watson, who was fouled by Sam Cassell after canning the Sonics' second 3-pointer in 10 first-half tries.
"I thought we were really average in the first half," Hill said. "We were very sloppy and we committed 10 turnovers. I didn't think we were guarding anybody."
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