Sonics hold on in Hill's debut

Rashard Lewis scored 21 points and Luke Ridnour made two free throws with three seconds left to lead Seattle to a 101-97 victory over the Bulls last night in Chicago in Bob Hill's debut as the SuperSonics' head coach.

Ben Gordon made a 3-pointer with 33.4 seconds left to pull the Bulls to 99-97. After a jump ball, Gordon stepped out of bounds near the Bulls' bench, giving Seattle possession.

Ridnour (15 points) then made the free throws, sending the Bulls to their eighth straight loss.

Lewis hit 6 of 14 shots and 8 of 11 free throws as the Sonics won for only the third time in eight games.

Ray Allen scored 20 points, 17 in the first half, but left the game after being elbowed in the right eye by Chicago's Kirk Hinrich early in the fourth quarter. Vladimir Radmanovic scored 14 points -- 11 in the second half -- in his first start this season.

Gordon led the Bulls with 21 points, and Darius Songaila scored 20.

A day after firing Bob Weiss and promoting Hill from assistant coach, the Sonics showed some spark through the first 2 1/2 quarters. Then, they hung on.

Hill wasted no time shaking up the rotation.

That meant giving Radmanovic the start and inserting seldom-used center Robert Swift in the first quarter.

Unhappy in a limited role under Weiss, Radmanovic made an immediate impact with a 3-pointer 19 seconds into the game. Hill pumped his fist as the ball fell through the net.

Raptors 121, Magic 97 -- Rookie Charlie Villanueva scored 24 points and host Toronto shot a franchise-record 63 percent from the field as the Raptors won their fourth in a row.

The Raptors (10-22) own the third-worst record in the NBA, but tied a season-high in points.

Seven Toronto players reached double figures in scoring. The Raptors' previous best shooting percentage was 61.9 percent on March 3, 1998, at Cleveland.

Jameer Nelson had a career-high 31 points for the Magic, who placed forward Grant Hill on the inactive list before game because of a strained groin.

Spurs 106, Trail Blazers 75 -- Tim Duncan and Tony Parker each scored 18 points and host San Antonio held Portland to three field goals in the fourth quarter en route to the victory. San Antonio limited Portland to 9-of-32 shooting in the second half and the Spurs had 57 rebounds, including 20 on the offensive end.

Cavaliers 91, Bucks 84 -- LeBron James scored 17 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter to lead visiting Cleveland. Donyell Marshall scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds off the bench to help the Cavaliers snap a seven-game losing streak in Milwaukee.

Nuggets 106, Pacers 86 -- Earl Boykins and Carmelo Anthony each scored 23 points as Denver rolled past visiting Indiana, which sorely missed Jermaine O'Neal (pneumonia) in the paint. Stephen Jackson led the Pacers with 21 points but was 6-of-17 shooting from the field.

Suns 105, 76ers 85 --Steve Nash scored 24 points and sat out the fourth quarter while host Phoenix completed a rout of Philadelphia for its fifth victory in six games. Samuel Dalembert scored 14 points and grabbed a career-high 22 rebounds for Philadelphia.

Timberwolves 91, Mavericks 78 -- Marko Jaric scored 22 points to spark struggling Minnesota over visiting Dallas. The Timberwolves, who won for only the third time in their past 11 games, were paced by Kevin Garnett's 23 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists.

Hornets 107, Heat 92 -- Desmond Mason scored 24 points and New Orleans overcame Dwyane Wade's second career triple-double for the victory in Oklahoma City. Wade had 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.