Sonics win possible last game in Seattle
If this was the end of the Seattle SuperSonics, they went out looking good and well-loved.
Rookie Kevin Durant scored twice in the final 45 seconds, and the Sonics rallied from a six-point deficit in the final three minutes to beat the Dallas Mavericks 99-95 on Sunday night.
It was an impressive home finale for a Seattle team that might be playing in Oklahoma City next season and is putting the finishing touches on the worst record in franchise history.
The crowd roared as much for the effort on the floor as the rare appearance of former star Gary Payton in the stands.
The Sonics outhustled and outplayed the playoff-bound Mavericks giving their fans something to be proud of. Earl Watson led Seattle with 21 points and 10 assists, while Nick Collison had 18 points and 11 rebounds as Seattle scored the final 10 points and handed Dallas a second straight loss.
Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas with 32 points, and Seattle native Jason Terry added 25.
But what made this game special was the possibility of it being the last game in Seattle for the franchise after 41 years here.
Owner Clay Bennett will have his efforts to relocate the Sonics to Oklahoma City debated at the NBA Board of Governors meeting later this week in New York.
Last week, e-mail messages between Bennett and team co-owners appeared to show Bennett misled NBA commissioner David Stern on the group's intentions to move the team to Oklahoma City before all avenues for a new arena in Seattle were closed.
The messages have become part of the team's dispute with the city of Seattle over the two years left on its KeyArena lease, with a trial scheduled for June. Bennett's goal is to have the Sonics playing in Oklahoma City for the 2008-09 season.
The latest news only heightened the disdain Sonics' fans feel toward their owner, spewed in derisive chants about Bennett that bubbled periodically during the game.
In other games
• Pistons 91, Raptors 84 — Jason Maxiell and Rodney Stuckey combined for 18 fourth-quarter points as Detroit beat visiting Toronto.
The loss drops Toronto (40-40) into a tie with Philadelphia for the Eastern Conference's sixth seed with two games left, although the Raptors have the tiebreaker. The sixth seed will play Orlando in the first round, while the seventh seed faces Detroit.
Maxiell and Stuckey helped Detroit's young second unit outplay the Toronto regulars.
• Magic 104, Bulls 84 — Hedo Turkoglu scored 24 points, and Orlando won at Chicago to reach the 50-win mark for the first time in 12 years.
Dwight Howard added 19 points even though he sat out the fourth quarter, and Rashard Lewis added 18.
• Cavaliers 84, Heat 76 — Daniel Gibson made a 3-pointer and three straight free throws early in the fourth quarter to give Cleveland some cushion while LeBron James rested, and the Cavaliers moved closer to the East's No. 4 seed with a win over visiting Miami.
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