Sonics fall just short against Lakers

The Sonics' future was on full display in the final two quarters of a see-saw affair with the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday.

There was Kevin Durant, knocking down a three-pointer late in the fourth quarter. And there was Jeff Green, harassing Kobe Bryant into an missed three-pointer and helping to create a turnover that forced overtime in front of a crowd of 13,452 at KeyArena.

In the extra period, however, the Sonics' prized rookies faltered just slightly as Bryant scored the game-winning points and denied Durant the chance to retaliate in a 123-121 defeat that extended Seattle's losing streak to seven games.

"You never want to lose, but I'm encouraged," Durant said. "If we play like this the rest of the season, we'll win games. But we got to play like this. We got to continue this. We can't go back to the way we were playing.

"This was fun. Even though we lost, this was exciting."

It was the best the Sonics had played since a Dec. 21 victory against Toronto. Seattle had seven players scoring in double figures, including Nick Collison with 24 points, Durant with 19 and Wally Szczerbiak with 18.

But as good as they were, Bryant — who was battling an upper respiratory infection — was better.

With the Lakers missing Andrew Bynum, their third-leading scorer who will miss the next eight weeks with a sprained knee, Bryant shouldered the scoring load early. He took 11 of Los Angeles' first 27 shots and 18 of the first 50 as the Lakers led 64-62 at halftime.

Said Szczerbiak: "He's Kobe. There's a reason why he's the best player in the NBA."

During his pregame address, Sonics coach P.J. Carlesimo had predicted a big scoring night from Bryant.

All signs indicated he was due for a game in which he dusted off the Superman cape and carried Los Angeles to victory, like he has done so often in his career.

Carlesimo was more than willing to surrender a game-high 48 points to Bryant — as long as Seattle held the other Lakers in check and the Sonics were able to break out of a six-game scoring slump.

Luke Ridnour — who returned from a four-game layoff and had 11 assists and 10 points — and Collison got the offense going. Chris Wilcox, who had missed the past four games, had 12 points and nine rebounds. Kurt Thomas had 16 points and nine rebounds, and Green chipped in 14 points and seven rebounds.

"Our three bigs were exceptional," Carlesimo said. "I thought Kurt, Nick and Chris were all really, really good. The bench came in and really contributed. It was a heck of an effort. It's really encouraging."

The Sonics hoped the Lakers, who played Sunday night, would tire in the end. But Los Angeles never went away.

"We got to handle the end-game situations a little better," Carlesimo said. "Defensively we tried to compete, but we had a couple critical mistakes."

The overtime period ended much like the fourth quarter, on a play with Bryant dribbling along the perimeter and Green blocking his path to the basket. Bryant waited until about six seconds remained before making a move left and elevating over Green for an 18-foot jumper with 4.3 seconds left.

"He's one of the best players and he can go either way," Green said. "The first shot in the fourth quarter, he missed. The second shot, he didn't. That's the only difference in the play. He can make those shots. He's made them before.

"In the fourth quarter I contested a little more, and this time he got it off without a hand in his face like it was in the fourth quarter. Hopefully, I get another chance again and hopefully, it doesn't end like that."

The Sonics had a chance to either extend or win the game with a three-pointer. But Szczerbiak was unable to get the ball to Durant with an inbound pass because of Bryant's harassing defense. Thomas received the pass and dished to Collison, whose midrange jumper hit the side of the rim and bounced away.

"It felt good, it just didn't go in," Collison said.

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