And finally, Sonics win 126-121 over Warriors

OAKLAND, Calif. — At long last, it's over.

You would think that after absorbing nearly as many losses in his first season as Sonics coach than his past three seasons as a San Antonio Spurs assistant that coach P.J. Carlesimo would be overjoyed now that this woeful season has finally crashed to an end.

"I never feel good when a season ends," he said before Kevin Durant scored a career-high 42 points to lead the Sonics to a 126-121 victory against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday. "It doesn't matter what your record is or if you win your last game. Any time you end a season, it's sad."

This year might be the exception as the Sonics stumbled to unprecedented depths of despair while laying the foundation for what promises to be a big payoff in the not-so-distant future in Seattle or Oklahoma City.

"We've been saying all year our guys have done a good job dealing with the situation for the most part," Carlesimo said. "Not 82 times, but the majority of times they've given us good effort. I think they hung in in a very difficult year.

"The circumstances were a little bit of it, but it was just a tough year. A lot of new guys. A new coaching staff. Trades. Losing a lot of games and still trying. That's great. They do care about winning and losing. We didn't do as good of a job as they wanted to, but I don't think they hung it up. It's a nice way to finish it. We've got a long way to go, but I'd rather finish the way we did, two wins at home and a win here."

Durant, who collected a career-high 13 rebounds and sank 18 of 25 field goals, gave the finest performance of his rookie season and displayed glimpses of his All-Star potential in front of a sellout crowd of 19,596 at Oracle Arena.

"It's a great way to build going into next year," he said. "This offseason is going to be big for us."

Carlesimo and general manager Sam Presti have no plans to parlay the team's six first-round draft picks over the next three years in hopes of making a worst-to-first leap similar to the Boston Celtics.

"I think Sam's intent from day one has been to build through the draft and with the young guys and have something in place that you can sustain for a long time," Carleismo said. "That certainly means we're going to build more gradually ... There's teams that have won games in the 20s and gotten better in two or three years."

Wednesday's victory gave the Sonics a two-game winning streak and it was the last chance players such as Nick Collison (16 points and 13 rebounds) and Earl Watson (17 points and 12 assists) had to impress and secure roster spots for next season.

"You never feel safe," Watson said. "But I've gotten to the point in my life where I don't worry about stuff like that."

Durant, who is expected to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award by a large margin according to an informal poll of writers, is undoubtedly safe. So is fellow rookie Jeff Green, who scored 27 points and had 10 rebounds.

Early in the season, Carlesimo talked about acquiring a front line veteran who can command a double team in the low post. On Wednesday, however, he declined to specify an area of need and said "we need a lot of things."

At 20-62, the Sonics finished with their worst record ever and second-worst in the NBA this season and a 19.9 percent chance of landing the No. 1 overall draft pick at next month's lottery. The team has targeted Memphis point guard Derrick Rose, who would seemingly pair nicely with Durant and Green.

"Over the past month or so, Kevin and I have played well together," Green said. "We're just starting to build that chemistry, which makes me sad to see this season end. You kind of want to keep playing."

SEATTLE
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Green	38:38	8-12	11-14	2-10	2	4	27
Collison	32:29	8-13	0-0	6-13	0	3	16
Petro	23:32	4-9	0-0	0-5	3	4	8
EWatson	37:01	7-15	1-2	1-3	12	1	17
Durant	42:37	18-25	5-6	3-13	6	0	42
Elson	23:45	2-7	0-0	0-7	2	1	4
Ridnour	16:22	1-4	0-0	0-1	2	1	2
Wilkins	25:36	4-9	0-0	0-3	5	2	10
Totals		52-94	17-22	12-55	32	16	126

Percentages: FG .553, FT .773. Three-point goals: 5-10, .500 (E.Watson 2-2, Wilkins 2-6, Durant 1-2). Team rebounds: 5. Team turnovers: 14 (20 PTS). Blocked shots: 5 (Collison 2, Durant 2, Petro). Turnovers: 13 (Durant 5, Green 3, Wilkins 2, Collison, Ridnour, E.Watson). Steals: 8 (Petro 3, Green 2, Collison, Durant, Wilkins). Technical fouls: None.

GOLDEN STATE
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Jackson	26:22	3-13	4-5	0-0	3	1	11
Harrington	17:24	1-5	0-0	0-1	1	0	2
Biedrins	40:06	8-13	4-7	10-17	0	5	20
Davis	38:51	8-22	0-0	2-6	7	4	21
Ellis	34:08	11-17	2-2	2-6	6	1	24
Croshere	20:12	3-7	0-0	2-6	2	0	7
Pietrus	18:19	4-10	0-0	1-3	1	3	11
Belinelli	18:42	6-10	0-0	0-0	2	0	17
Barnes	6:52	1-5	0-0	1-5	0	0	2
CWatson	4:19	0-2	0-0	2-2	1	0	0
Azubuike	14:45	2-6	2-2	1-4	1	2	6
Totals		47-110	12-16	21-50	24	16	121

Percentages: FG .427, FT .750. Three-point goals: 15-45, .333 (Belinelli 5-6, Davis 5-12, Pietrus 3-7, Croshere 1-5, Jackson 1-7, C.Watson 0-1, Azubuike 0-2, Harrington 0-2, Barnes 0-3). Team rebounds: 4. Team turnovers: 12 (14 PTS). Blocked shots: 6 (Biedrins 3, Pietrus 2, Jackson). Turnovers: 12 (Davis 4, Ellis 4, Biedrins 2, Jackson, C.Watson). Steals: 6 (Davis 2, Belinelli, Biedrins, Croshere, Ellis).

Seattle	35	33	27	31 — 126
Golden State	24	36	20	41 — 121

Attendance: 19,596 (19,596). Time: 2:03. Officials: Mike Callahan, Marc Davis, Kevin Fehr.

Sonics' worst-laid plans
The Sonics finished the worst season in their 41-year history with a victory Wednesday at Golden State.
W-L	Year
20-62	2007-08
Boy, you'd almost think these guys were trying to look bad
23-59	1967-68
Rookies and veteran castoffs allowed league-worst 125 points per game
26-56	1972-73
Spencer Haywood (29.2 ppg) averaged 16 more than second-highest scorer
30-52	1968-69
Only 4,311 fans bothered to show up for the Sonics' home opener
31-51	1984-85
Lowest-scoring team in NBA, even with Tom Chambers jacking up shots
31-51	1985-86
Sonics had a game "rained out" because of leaky Coliseum roof
31-51	2006-07
Final season in Seattle for Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis and coach Bob Hill