--Although you can't judge it by the record, Seattle coach P.J. Carlesimo said his team is competing better now because the bench players are more comfortable with the system and their roles, and starters like Johan Petro, Nick Collison and Jeff Green -- who originally came off the bench -- are more comfortable playing against front-line players.
"I just think that the team is more comfortable," Carlesimo said. "So we're getting more good minutes than we were getting." QUOTE TO NOTE: "Coach (P.J. Carlesimo) said they went on an 11-0 run and we didn't come back at them. That's something we have to do. Every team makes a run in this league, so we just have to come back at them and play hard on the defensive end, rebound the basketball and we'll be OK." -- Sonics guard Kevin Durant.
