Brand leads Clippers to rout over Sonics

The schedule now turns nightmarish for the Sonics, 102-84 losers to the Los Angeles Clippers at home Wednesday. They finish the season against playoff-contending teams in each of their final seven games.

Starting Friday, they face Houston, Denver, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Golden State.

It's a murderer's row for most teams and especially so for the Sonics, who are on pace to set the franchise's worst record in its 41-year history.

Wednesday's meeting against the Los Angeles Clippers at KeyArena gave Seattle one last chance to measure up against a bottom-feeding contemporary, and the defeat in front of 10,392 was yet another disappointment in a season marked by so many historic lows.

The Clippers, who improved to 23-52 and snapped an eight-game road losing streak, played without Chris Kaman (sprained ankle) and Cuttino Mobley (sore heel). However, forward Elton Brand, who tore his left Achilles tendon before the season, made an unexpected debut and proved to be the difference.

Brand was the only All-Star on the court. Yet it was apparent that he'd missed the first 74 games, and he appeared winded in the early stages. It took him three quarters before he found his rhythm and began torching the Sonics in the middle.

"In the second half, he made a huge difference," Sonics coach P.J. Carlesimo said. "He struggled in the first half and he looked like somebody who hadn't played in however long its been ... He certainly was a major factor in the second half. He looked totally different."

Seattle led 70-69 at the start of the fourth quarter before Brand took over. He scored 13 of his 19 points off the bench on a series of post-up moves and mid-range fade away jumpers over forward Nick Collison.

Brand's short jumper midway through the period put the Sonics behind 82-72, and Seattle never recovered.

"In hindsight I guess I should have crowded him a little more and not given him so much space," Collison said. "He's probably not all the way back yet, but when he gets that jump shot going, he's pretty tough."

Before Brand seized control, Al Thornton (21 points), Corey Maggette (20 points) and former Gonzaga standout Dan Dickau (13 points) kept the Clippers in the game.

The Sonics did well to overcome an 11-point deficit (18-7) in the first quarter, and they led for most of the next two periods.

Without backup swingman Damien Wilkins, who was excused for personal reasons and flew home to Atlanta, Carlesimo plugged deep reserve Adrian Griffin into the rotation and was forced to play the starters longer minutes than normal.

The Sonics (17-58) relied on an eight-man rotation and fatigue seemed to set in in the final quarter as they scored just 14 points and allowed Los Angeles 33.

"Having Damien is one more player, one more competitive player who's playing 25 minutes a game," Carlesimo said. "Having said that, Adrian played most of his minutes and Adrian played not pretty good, but very well. "

Griffin finished with three points on 1-for-4 shooting, six rebounds and three assists in 22 minutes, which was not nearly enough to counter the production Los Angeles received from its bench. The Clippers reserves outscored the Sonics' 42-8.

When the Clippers turned almost exclusively to Brand in the fourth quarter, the Sonics relied on rookie Kevin Durant, who scored nine of his game-high 30 points in the period. He sank 4 of 8 shots while the rest of the Sonics were 2 for 18 in the fourth quarter.

"For whatever reason we quit doing what got us there," Collison said. "We don't move the ball and we stand around and wait for someone else to make plays.

"A lot of times we give the ball to Kevin for isolations, and we're not moving the ball. And we're not running our plays the right way. We're not getting a lot of good shots down towards the end. We don't get good shots and then we have some turnovers. It's been the same way all year."

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