Sonics' chance for victory slips away

Earl Watson covered his head with both hands, concealing a pained look.

The Sonics are tired of the lessons that losing teaches, but their 96-93 defeat to Charlotte dealt another. The Bobcats held a one-point lead with 49.8 seconds remaining in the game, and coming out of a timeout, Watson had the ball and a game plan to lead his team in a situation he relishes — fans on their feet, a win in sight.

But instead of attacking the moment, he admitted to stalling.

The decision, coupled with weak perimeter defending and a slow start, cost the Sonics (17-56) the win. Charlotte, which was 1-11 in February, is 8-6 this month and 2-1 on its current road trip, which concludes today in Portland.

“For me in basketball, when you think you’ve figured it out, there’s something new that comes,” said Watson, who finished with 16 points and six assists with three turnovers. “Tonight I learned that down the stretch when I turned the ball over, my mentality was trying to break the defense and look to pass. I should have broken down the defense looking to attack and score. Because of that, I turned the ball over.

“At the same time, as a team we need to learn that when plays breakdown, you still have to stay on the same page. I couldn’t leave my teammate out there, so I went to the ball and tried to make something happen and just lost it. I should have went to the ball trying to attack the basket.”

Bobcats forward Gerald Wallace picked up the turnover, and though teammate Raymond Felton missed the ensuing 19-foot jump shot, Felton was later fouled and made two free throws to give the Bobcats a 94-91 lead.

The Sonics called a timeout and designed a three-point play for Kevin Durant, who hadn’t made a shot from that length all night. The rookie rushed the play with Wallace guarding him, watching the ball scoop in and out of the hoop with 6.9 seconds remaining.

“Earlier in the game they were shooting about 60 percent from the field and then we got it down to around 52 percent,” said Charlotte coach Sam Vincent, whose team limited the Sonics to 17 points in the final quarter. “In the fourth quarter we cranked it up just a little bit tighter and they missed a few of those shots. We got the rebound and went down to convert.”

With Sonics forward Chris Wilcox out for the remainder of the season, Seattle knew it would need bench help to over the remaining 10 games of the season.

They got it on Friday. Complemented by Watson’s second-half effort, the Sonics reserves outscored Charlotte’s reserves 31-11. But the slow start by the Sonics starters —allowing the Bobcats to score 38 points in the opening quarter — was too much to recoup.

“Luke [Ridnour] looked down at the bench and was like, ‘Look, we gotta go in here and pick these guys up,’” said Donyell Marshall, who had 10 points and six boards. “That’s what we did. Once we did that, we were ready to play defense. We just came out a little flat. ... I just keep telling these guys, you got to keep playing. Obviously in the fourth quarter we ran out of gas.

“The main important thing is, especially over the last week before we came home, we haven’t been playing hard,” Marshall added. “The last two games we played hard, and we should have won.”

Seattle lost 104-99 Wednesday to the Washington Wizards at KeyArena.

On Friday, with the Sonics trailing 90-87 with two minutes remaining in the game, Watson nailed a key 13-foot jumper to inch Seattle closer. Durant made a baseline layin with 1:10 remaining to give the Sonics a brief 91-90 lead.

Watson scored 10 points in the third quarter when the Sonics climbed out of a seven-point deficit to take a 76-72 lead at the buzzer. Watson added the exclamation point with a driving layin as the buzzer sounded.

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com