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Thursday, Nov. 9 7:30pm ET
Sonics tip undermanned Hornets

RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME FLOW

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Without P.J. Brown or Baron Davis to contend with, the Seattle SuperSonics managed to get their first road victory of the season.

Gary Payton
Gary Payton, front, reacts as he is grabbed by Charlotte's Hersey Hawkins Thursday night.
Vin Baker scored 22 points and Rashard Lewis added 19 to lead the SuperSonics to a 102-94 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday night.

The Hornets, already without Brown, lost Davis midway through the game.

"They are a good team with Baron and P.J., but we had all cylinders going," Baker said. "All I know is we were effective in all the things we wanted to do. If you want to call it manhandling them, that's fine."

The Sonics, which had been averaging 21.4 turnovers a game, had only 10 against the Hornets. They had 20 second-chance points and limited Charlotte's chances by grabbing 24 defensive rebounds.

"This was a taste of how I think we can play," Seattle coach Paul Westphal said. "We finally took care of the ball, which is key. That's been a major problem for us. We came up with a lot of energy."

Charlotte coach Paul Silas said Seattle's second-chance points cost the Hornets the game.

"That was the game in a nutshell," Silas said. "We held our own in every other area, but the second-chance points cost us the game. That's entirely too many."

Seattle, which opened the season 0-3 on the road, nearly squandered a 14-point fourth-quarter lead.

The Sonics, who had led since midway through the second quarter, stretched their lead to 85-71 on Baker's jump shot with 10:21 left.

But the Hornets, who started the game with forward Brown in street clothes because of a strained left Achilles' tendon and lost Davis with a strained hamstring, pulled back in it.

Derrick Coleman, back after missing over a month because of an irregular heartbeat, scored seven points in a 10-0 run that made it 85-81 with 7:24 to go.

Showing little fatigue from his lack of conditioning, Coleman hit two free throws to start the run, drilled a 3-pointer and later hit a soft jumper to get Charlotte within striking distance.

"I was just trying to get into a rhythm more than anything," Coleman said. "I felt a little winded, but I was getting the looks and able to hang in there."

Lewis answered for the Sonics with his third 3-pointer of the night, and after a Charlotte miss, Jelani McCoy had a dunk that put Seattle back up 90-81.

Charlotte cut it to five twice, both on jumpers by Hersey Hawkins, but could get no closer.

Gary Payton finished with 17 points and Patrick Ewing had 13 for Seattle.

Jamal Mashburn led Charlotte with 25. Coleman had 18 points and 11 rebounds in 35 minutes.

Davis, who strained his left hamstring late in the first quarter, returned briefly in the second but left for the rest of the half with 5:46 to play and the Hornets trailing 38-37.

Seattle immediately exploited his absence.

Without Davis' speed on the floor, the Sonics had more open looks at the basket -- especially from long range. Payton hit a pair of 3s and Lewis also had one in a 14-5 run that gave Seattle a 52-42 lead.

Davis tried to come back one last time, with 9:09 to play in the third, but was extremely ineffective. His bad pass with 5:11 to go in the period was stolen by Ruben Patterson, who drove the length of the floor and dunked to give Seattle its largest lead of the night, 72-57.

"They gave a little toughness away when (Davis) went out," Payton said. "They lost something on defense and we were able to exploit that."

Game notes
Brown missed only the 19th game of his seven-year career. He is day-to-day. ... Ewing is averaging only 10.4 points a game. ... As part of Charlotte's Salute to Veterans Night, the Hornets invited the family of 19-year-old sailor Lakeina Francis to the game. Francis was killed in last month's terrorist attack on the USS Cole.


NBA Scoreboard

Seattle Clubhouse

Charlotte Clubhouse

RECAPS
Seattle 102
Charlotte 94

Detroit 108
New Jersey 94

Philadelphia 84
Minnesota 82

Chicago 95
Orlando 90

Houston 85
Vancouver 78

Phoenix 88
Atlanta 79

Portland 107
Denver 91


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