Seattle 105, Sacramento 92

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Feb. 6 (AP) - Earl Watson had 23 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for his first career triple-double, leading the Seattle SuperSonics to a 105-92 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night.

Ahead by eight points after three quarters, the Sonics scored the first 13 points of the fourth to take a 21-point lead. Scoreless through three quarters, Johan Petro scored nine straight points in the run that helped Seattle go ahead 94-73 with 8:06 remaining.

Kevin Durant scored 17 points, Chris Wilcox had 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Nick Collison and Kurt Thomas each had 13 points.

Ron Artest scored 20 points for the Kings, who had their season-best four-game winning streak snapped. Francisco Garcia and John Salmons both scored 11 points, while Spencer Hawes, Mike Bibby and Mikki Moore all had 10.

It was a sub-par game for Martin, the Kings' leading scorer. He missed both first-half shots and was scoreless until making two free throws midway through the third quarter. Martin missed his first nine shots before making his only basket, a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter. He finished with five points.

It has been a surprising turnaround of late for Seattle, which snapped a 14-game losing streak Jan. 29 with a victory over defending champion San Antonio. The Sonics continued playing well and have won four of five.

For the injury-plagued Kings, it was another game without a full roster. Starting center Brad Miller missed the game after cutting the index finger of his right hand Sunday. Miller was named Western Conference Player of the Week after averaging 22 points and 18.3 rebounds in three straight victories last week.

Seattle's switch to a zone defense in the second quarter seemed to bother the Kings, who went cold after a strong first quarter. The poor shooting extended into the third quarter when the Sonics went on a 14-4 run and to start the period and led 81-73 going into the fourth.

Watson did much of the damage in the third quarter. The veteran guard made all four shots and scored 10 points for Seattle, which outscored Sacramento 34-24 to assume control of the game for good.

Artest scored 13 of his 17 first-half points in the opening quarter for the Kings, who led 49-48 at intermission.

Notes: Rookies Durant and Hawes, who grew up in Seattle, became good friends while playing together for the 2006 USA Basketball Junior National Select team. ... Kings point guard Beno Udrih missed the game due to illness. ... The normally reliable Bibby missed 11 of 15 shots and was 1-for-9 in his previous game. ... The Kings shot 37 percent and made only 13 of 20 free throws.


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