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Lewis, Sonics top Hawks; Allen sits out

Dec 6, 2006 - 5:41 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Without Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis was the sharpshooter for the Seattle SuperSonics.

Lewis scored 29 points and the SuperSonics had six double-figure scorers in a 102-87 rout of the Atlanta Hawks.

Chris Wilcox added 18 points for Seattle, which shot a blistering 55 percent (42-of-76) from the field and outrebounded the Hawks, 44-28, to make up for 23 turnovers.

"I've talked to Wilcox about being a low-post threat, and they didn't double-team him but he scored almost every time he got the ball on the block," Sonics coach Bob Hill said. "He did yeoman's work, and I thought Johan Petro was a lot better."

In Atlanta on November 11, the Hawks had their season-high four-game winning streak snapped when Allen scored 33 points and converted a left-handed layup with 1.2 seconds remaining to seal the win.

"We just came out and played. I don't think we consciously did things a lot differently (without Allen)," Seattle center Nick Collison said. "We just want to go out and play. We had a good first half, the second half was a little sloppy but we got enough stops and made enough shots. I don't think you can go crazy and try to change their game but we have to try to play well and get play from all of our players."

On Tuesday, however, the All-Star guard was sidelined with a sore tendon in his right foot. After complaining of the nagging injury at the shootaround before Tuesday's contest, the team scheduled an MRI for Wednesday.

"We had to be a little more aggressive on offense (without Allen), but I wasn't worried about it," Lewis said. "The guys stepped up. Some of the guys wanted to prove that they deserved to be in the rotation."

With Allen out, Lewis took over, shooting 10-of-16 from the floor and 3-of-6 from the arc. Leading, 69-63, with 2:49 remaining in the third quarter, Lewis scored six points as the Sonics closed the period with an 8-0 run to make it, 77-63.

"We all thought Ray was going to play but he couldn't and Damien Wilkins got the opportunity in the starting lineup and I'm happy for him," Hill said. "I thought Rashard looked for his shot and scored when he had to."

Lewis also drew the defensive assignment on Hawks guard Joe Johnson, a prolific scorer.

"That's what I want. I want to be guarding the best on the floor because I feel I can contain him," Lewis said. "It's just hard to stop a great guard. I did my best to contain him. My main thing was to try to make it a little bit harder to make shots."

Luke Ridnour had 14 points and six assists and Wilkins and Earl Watson scored 10 points apiece to spark Seattle's balanced attack.

"Everyone here can play," Ridnour said. "You've just got to go out and play. He's a big part of our team, but we can play two. It was just a good team win for us."

Johnson scored 34 points and Josh Smith added 11 for Atlanta, which shot just 39 percent (32-of-83).

"We lost focus once we found out Allen was out," Johnson said. "For whatever reason, we came out too relaxed and they came out and go into a great spot. We made a run but every time we made a run they came back with some big buckets. It was tough."