Seattle SuperSonics Team Report - February 16

(Basketball News) - The surprising Seattle SuperSonics attempt to go into the All-Star break on a winning note, as they welcome the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday to KeyArena.

This will be the third meeting of the season between the clubs. In the two previous contests, the SuperSonics picked up a win at home and victory at The Arena on Oakland. The teams will play once more in the 2004-05 campaign, as Golden State will host Seattle on April 3rd.

The SuperSonics have won two straight after losing the last two meetings in this series, while Golden State has won five of the last eight contests. the Warriors have lost two of three and 16 of their last 18 at Seattle.

With a win on Wednesday, Seattle would be just one victory shy of its total from 2003-04. On Sunday, Jason Terry’s three-pointer with 8.9 seconds left in the game capped a huge comeback as the Dallas Mavericks defeated the SuperSonics, 95-92, at KeyArena.

All-Star Rashard Lewis had 18 points in Sunday’s loss for the Sonics, who coughed up a double-digit lead with five minutes left and had their win streak end at five games. Seattle point guard Luke Ridnour had a solid game against Dallas, as he scored 17 points and handed out a game-high eight assists in 31 minutes of action.

Forward Danny Fortson (suspension) is eligible to return against Golden State for Seattle. Fortson had been suspended for two games without pay by the league on February 11th for improper behavior following his ejection from last Thursday’s victory over the Sacramento Kings.

Seattle is 28-2 when it allows under 100 points this season.

The Sonics are 19-7 as the host this season. Seattle is 4-4 in its last eight games at KeyArena.

Seattle’s Ray Allen and Lewis will be in Denver on Sunday as reserves for the Western Conference All-Star team. Allen will play in his fifth NBA All-Star Game, while Lewis will be making his first appearance.

Seattle will resume its season after the All-Star break on Tuesday, February 22nd on the road against the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center. It will be the first of fours meetings between the clubs in the 2004-05 campaign.

Allen is averaging 23.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists in his last 10 games. He has scored in double-digits in all 47 games that he has played in this season.