Allen Carries Load for SuperSonics

SACRAMENTO — The Seattle SuperSonics put the game on Ray Allen’s shoulders, and the shooting guard carried them to the brink of the second round.

Allen scored a playoff career-high 45 points, making six three-point baskets in the SuperSonics’ 115-102 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday in Game 4, sending Seattle home with a chance to finish the best-of-seven Western Conference series.

Rashard Lewis scored 19 points and Jerome James had 17 for Seattle, but Allen, his calm expression rarely changing, was spectacular in front of the Kings’ deafening home crowd. He scored 10 points in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter, when the SuperSonics reclaimed the lead for the first time since the first quarter.

And when the cold-shooting Kings cut the deficit to 104-98 in the last 90 seconds, Allen finished them with a three-pointer from the right wing with 1 minute 2 seconds to play. He then added two points to the highest-scoring performance in the playoffs this season.

Peja Stojakovic scored 21 of his 27 points in the first half for the Kings, who haven’t lost a first-round series since 2000. Their dramatic roster shuffling during the season, which included the departures of playoff stalwarts Chris Webber and Doug Christie, might have doomed that streak, unless the Kings can string together three improbable wins.

Allen, the SuperSonics’ leading scorer in every game of the series, was relentless in the second half, running around multiple screens for one smooth jump shot after another. Sometimes he didn’t even wait for screens, simply shooting from a good distance behind the three-point line.

His fifth three-point basket gave Seattle a 90-88 lead with 9:19 to play. With his last three-pointer, he surpassed his previous playoff high of 41 points, set with Milwaukee in the 2001 Eastern Conference finals against Philadelphia.