ATLANTA (Ticker) -- For nearly 58 minutes, Damien Wilkinscarried the Seattle SuperSonics past his uncle's old squad. ButKevin Durant took care of the last few seconds. Durant threw in a wild 3-pointer at the buzzer in the secondovertime and Wilkins scored a career-high 41 points as theSuperSonics pulled off an exciting 126-123 double-overtimevictory over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night. Nick Collison had 10 points and 14 rebounds for Seattle, whichhas won two in a row since starting the season with eightstraight losses. "We'd rather be 8-2 instead of 2-8, but we're starting to putthings together and clean a few things up," Wilkins said."We're definitely starting to play better." After Wally Szczerbiak made just 1-of-2 free throws to make it123-121 with 16 seconds left in the second overtime, Tyronn Lueanswered on the other end with a running floater over EarlWatson that bounced off the back iron, straight up in the airand in to tie the game. But Durant - the second overall pick in this June's draft -would not be denied on the final possession of the contest,taking the inbounds pass, turning and nailing a fadeaway3-pointer over fellow first-year standout Al Horford. "If I got the ball and said that I'm going to knock the shotdown," Durant said. "Al Horford was right on it, but I fadedaway and, fortunately, it went in." Durant, who scored 21 points on 8-of-18 shooting, pounded hischest and screamed at the Philips Arena crowd in the first bigmoment in what promises to be a stellar career for the19-year-old swingman. "We wanted to get the ball to either Damien in the corner orKevin on top on the last play," Sonics coach P.J. Carlesimosaid. "We got the ball to Kevin, and he made a monster shot.Players make monster shots." It somehow overshadowed a dominant performance by Wilkins, whois the nephew of former Hawks superstar Dominique Wilkins.Damien Wilkins shot 15-of-20 from the field and added ninerebounds. "(Damien Wilkins) doesn't need any incentive playing in thisbuilding," Carlesimo said. "His uncle's jersey is in therafters and his dad was here tonight. I have to think that whenhe plays in Atlanta, it's pretty special to him." Sitting alongside his brother - and Damien's father, formerNBA standout Gerald Wilkins - courtside, Dominique Wilkinswatched his nephew channel some of his old moves - going over,around and between Sonics' defenders all night. "The last time I think I scored that many in a game, it was inhigh school, definitely not at this level," Damien Wilkins said."Playing in front of family certainly made it special for me." Wilkins provided heroics at the end of regulation, nailing auncontested 3-pointer from outside the left corner - a few feetfrom his uncle and father to give the Sonics a one-point leadwith 16.5 seconds left. "(Delonte West) drove down the baseline," Wilkins said. "Thedefense converged on him. I went to the corner. He dished agreat pass. I was wide open and let it go." "He had it going," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. "Anytime youput 41 points on the board, I'd say that you had a great night." Atlanta had a chance to win it at the end of regulation, sendingJosh Childress, who had been perfect 24-of-24 from thefree-throw line, to shoot two free throws. But in snakebitten,Hawks-like fashion, Childress connected on just 1-of-2 freethrows to send the game to overtime. Wilkins responded again in the extra period, banking in a toughone-handed runner with 25 seconds left to make it 114-114 -eventually sending the game to a second overtime. Atlanta guard Salim Stoudamire missed a shot from the arc asthe horn sounded in the first extra period. The loss was the second disappointing home defeat for the Hawks,who have played well against the high-flying Phoenix Suns andDallas Mavericks here, but have looked like a totally differentclub against the previously winless Washington Wizards and thestruggling Sonics. Atlanta opened up flat as Seattle roared to a 58-45 lead at thehalf behind 15 points from Wilkins before Joe Johnsonsinglehandedly willed the Hawks back in the game with 13third-quarter points. "We came out a little flat to start the game," Childressadmitted. "That happens over the course of the season. Theimportant thing was that we were able to bounce back in thesecond half." Johnson scored a season-high 39 points and Childress added 22and 10 rebounds for the Hawks, who have dropped eight in a rowagainst the Sonics.
