Sonics | Lessons learned in loss to Nuggets, 120-103

DENVER — Point taken.

In a not so subtle fashion, P.J. Carlesimo sent a message to his new team, perhaps sacrificing a chance at upsetting Denver in the season opener to instruct the young Sonics on how he expects them to play and conduct themselves on the court.

The message came late in the third quarter of the 120-103 defeat Wednesday in front of 19,380 spectators at the Pepsi Center and a national-television audience.

Trailing 85-81 with 1:09 left in the quarter, Delonte West slammed the basketball to the floor while protesting a foul on Chris Wilcox. The burst of anger drew a technical foul and the ire of Carlesimo, who jumped from his seat.

It was the third mental mistake for West during a 90-second span in which he made two turnovers.

After Carmelo Anthony made the ensuing free throw, Carlesimo sat West for the next eight, game-deciding minutes.

It hardly mattered that West was at times brilliant in relief of an ineffective Earl Watson or that West was the only defender capable of slowing down Allen Iverson, who finished with 25 points and 14 assists.

It didn't matter that rookie Kevin Durant, who made his NBA debut, struggled with his jumper and was unable to contain Anthony, who had a game-high 32 points on 10-of-21 shooting.

What mattered was West made a critical mistake at an important juncture when Denver (1-0) hardly looked like a team that's expected to win 60 games and Seattle (0-1) might have avoided a blowout defeat.

When West went to the bench, Seattle's chances at winning also left the game.

Without West and his 19 points, the Sonics relied almost solely on Damien Wilkins, who scored a team-high 21 points. Wilcox (14 points) was the only other Sonic in double-digit scoring.

Without West, Seattle watched its five-point deficit (86-81) at the start of the fourth grow to 10 (93-83) within two minutes and 16 (106-90) midway through the quarter.

Whenever the Sonics drew close, either Denver reserves Linas Kleiza or Eduardo Najera drained a three-pointer to keep Seattle at bay. Kleiza scored 11 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter and Najera had 14.

With the game decided, Carlesimo sent West back in for garbage time.

"There was no message being sent," Carlesimo said. "Not from me. Obviously, I don't like technicals, but no message."

West had a different interpretation.

"No doubt, I thought Coach was trying to send a message," he said. "The message was I've got to do a better job of keeping my head, of keeping my composure. I let things get away from me and Coach, even if he didn't say anything, he let me know."

Another message Carlesimo sent is the importance of taking care of the basketball.

The Sonics committed 21 turnovers — seven on steals by Iverson — which resulted in 29 points.

As good as West was, he committed five turnovers that negated his five assists.

Still there was no denying the Sonics played better with West in the lineup. He finished with a plus-14 in the plus/minus points ratio and was the only Sonic who played more than three minutes with a positive ratio. Watson was minus-31.

"Turnovers and fatigue, I think, were probably the two biggest reasons," Carlesimo said. "It was a good effort for about 34 minutes, but not good enough to beat a team like Denver."

As for Durant, the No. 2 draft choice scored 18 points, but made just 7 of 22 shots.

Afterward, he seemed saddened by the defeat, but smiled briefly when someone told him Michael Jordan scored 16 points in his debut.

"We got some open shots, we just need to knock them down," Durant said. "Myself, I had a lot of open shots that I need to knock down. It's only the first game of the year. We got a long season and 81 more to go."

The Sonics play their first home game today, meeting the Phoenix Suns at 7:30 p.m. at KeyArena.

Percy Allen: 206-464-2278 or pallen@seattletimes.com