Seattle ? Ray Allen shot 5-for-19, and Rashard Lewis was 3-for-12 before leaving late in the third quarter with a strained left shoulder.
The Seattle SuperSonics still won easily.
“That is why a good team is a good team if guys can really contribute,” Allen said after the Sonics’ 92-79 victory over the struggling New Jersey Nets on Friday night. “They took Rashard and myself out of the game and other guys stepped up. That’s good to see.”
Improving the NBA’s best record to 12-2, their best start since the 1996-97 season, the Sonics got a season-high 20 points and eight rebounds in 22 minutes from reserve Danny Fortson.
Allen added 19 points, Vladimir Radmanovic scored 14 and Reggie Evans had 11 rebounds for the Sonics, who had a 43-40 rebounding advantage.
“Imagine not getting a rebound,” Allen said. “You can never run fast breaks, you can never get any open looks. It demoralizes your opponent when you get offensive rebounds and putbacks.”
Fortson scored 10 of his points in the fourth quarter. His aggressive inside play this season has been a major factor in the Sonics’ turnaround from a team that won only 37 games and missed the playoffs last season.
Fortson, with his fifth team in his eight-year NBA career, has been called a lot of names by opponents, but he’s become a fan favorite in the Key Arena. Seattle’s fans love what Fortson has given a team that was last in the league in rebounding last season.
“That’s good,” he said. “That makes me wants to play harder, to play better. Anybody wants to play better when he knows he has the crowd on his side.”
Returning from a 5-1 road trip that included a win at New Jersey, the Sonics improved to 6-0 at home. Seattle handed the Nets their eighth consecutive defeat, their longest losing streak since a nine-game skid in November 2000.
Richard Jefferson had 21 points and Eric Williams added a season-high 20 for New Jersey.
The Sonics lost their No. 2 scorer, Lewis, with 5:03 left in the third quarter. He had nine points and one rebound. Coach Nate McMillan said he thinks Lewis probably will be able to play Sunday night against Indiana in Seattle.
“He could have come back into the game tonight,” McMillan said. “We just felt like that if we didn’t need him, we weren’t going to take any chances. We’ll find out tomorrow how he feels.”
The Nets made only two of 18 shots in the first quarter, when the Sonics grabbed a 21-8 lead. The eight points and two field goals tied franchise records for lows in the opening period.
Jefferson said the Nets weren’t ready when the game started.
“It was a lack of effort,” he said. “We didn’t compete the way we were supposed to.”
Williams agreed with Jefferson, who has been carrying the Nets.
“We didn’t have a lot of energy,” he said. “It’s time to look in the mirror. I don’t like to lose and I hope the other guys don’t either.”
The Sonics led 48-27 at halftime, but the Nets closed their 21-point deficit to six points twice in the third quarter _ 53-47 and 55-59 _ before the Sonics spurted at the end of the period for a 63-51 lead. New Jersey never got closer than 10 points in the fourth quarter.
Seattle swept New Jersey for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.
