Lewis Gets 50 Against Clippers

Well, the Clippers won’t mind not seeing Rashard Lewis for a while.

Lewis scored a career-high 50 points on Saturday to lead the Seattle SuperSonics to a 124-105 victory over the Clippers in the final of two games in Japan.

“Obviously, it was not a good game for us,” Clipper Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “Rashard Lewis had an incredible game. We tried to double-team him late but he got hot and stayed hot all game.”

Lewis, who led the SuperSonics with 25 points in Thursday’s 109-100 victory, scored 26 points in the first half and had 24 after the break as the SuperSonics swept the two-game set at Saitama Super Arena.

“I felt sore when I woke up this morning,” Lewis said. “I wasn’t really thinking about the points but more about by how much we were up.”

Seattle used pressure defense to force several turnovers and open a 17-point lead with just over 10 minutes left.

The 50 points for Lewis also surpassed the previous record of 41 points for an NBA game in Japan set by Clyde Drexler of the Portland Trail Blazers in 1994. Lewis made 18 of 25 shots and 10 of 13 free throws

Lewis’ previous career high for points was 37 scored against Washington in November last season. He credited Saturday’s performance to hard work.

“It just comes down to a lot of hard work over the summer,” Lewis said. “I am one of the go-to guys on this team and it all comes down to making the right decisions and not making bad shots.”

Coming off 25 points in their opening victory over the Clippers, Lewis became the first SuperSonic to score 50 since Dale Ellis had 53 in 1989.

Fred Brown and Spencer Haywood are the only other SuperSonics to score at least 50 points. Brown has the team record at 58.

Corey Maggette led the Clippers with 26 points.

Seattle Coach Nate McMillan also gave credit to his defense.

“Defense was a big key,” McMillan said. “We didn’t play well defensively in the first half when we score 66 points but gave up 58.

“We talked about that at the break and improved a lot in the second half.”

This is the sixth time the NBA has had regular-season games in Japan; the last time was in 1999, when the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Sacramento Kings played at Tokyo Dome.

Seattle made the trip to Japan without three-time All-Star guard Ray Allen, who has an injured ankle. He was scheduled to have surgery today in Los Angeles.

Marko Jaric made a three-point basket to pull the Clippers to within one point late in the second quarter, but Lewis came back with two three-point baskets as the SuperSonics took a 66-58 lead at the half.

The 66 points scored by Seattle in the first half surpassed last season’s single-game high of 63.

Unlike Thursday’s game, both teams came out fast.

Lewis scored 15 points and the SuperSonics grabbed a 35-30 lead after the first quarter.