| Rashard Becomes Latest Sonic Injury; Seldom Used Wilkins Steps Up Big Authored by Hunter Johannason - March 25, 2005 - 4:44 am
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The Sonics had lost their previous five in the Rose Garden, and after Rashard Lewis left the game early things did not look good for the battered Supersonics.
Thankfully, it was the lesser known Sonics who won helped to pull off the win against their rivals in the Northwest, the Portland Trailblazers. Jerome James, a player who, by his reactions, must think he has never committed a legitimate foul in his life, scored 14 points and pulled down 7 rebounds en route to a 96-91 win.
However, there was one other player, a player who rarely sees the court but with Lewis hurt, got the call from Nate McMillan. A player who is so far down in the Sonics rotation, we don't even have a picture of him. A player who, through a solid game and a series of fantastically athletic plays, managed to step up for the Sonics and secure the win. Seldom used rookie Damien Wilkins came off the bench to score 21 points on 7 of 10 shooting in a career night. It was Wilkins who made a crucial steal in the final seconds to prevent the Blazers from tying it up at 94, even finishing the play with an emphatic dunk to seal the game. Not bad for a player who only averages 5.8 minutes per game this season.
Nick Collison turned in another solid performance off the bench scoring 11 points and grabbing 9 rebounds.
The momentum swung back and forth throughout the game with Portland surging in the first half, the Sonics doubling the Blazers score in the 3rd quarter, and Damon Stoudamire bringing the Blazers back into the game with a barrage of three pointers in the fourth period. In spite of Portland’s best efforts, the Sonics managed to pull out the win and end their cursed losing streak in the Rose Garden.
With the win, the Sonics move to 47-20 on the season and trail number 2 seed San Antonio by just 2 ½ games. Portland dropped to 23-44 in their hard fought loss, a long ways from playoff contention.
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