Perhaps, the Sonics would be best off just erasing the four times Utah is on their schedule; forfeiting and avoiding the embarrassment that a loss to their nearest competitors for the sixth seed in the Western Conference provides. It hasn't seemed to matter how well the Sonics have been playing -- they had won three in a row before the last Utah matchup, and nine of 11 leading into this one -- the Jazz instantly cool them off by exploiting the Sonics' mental and physical weaknesses.

Tonight, the Sonics at least provided their fans some measure of hope, leading through much of the second quarter, before completely falling apart in the second half in a 95-80 loss.

For all the talk of Utah's age and this perhaps being their final playoff run, it was rookies who really killed the Sonics tonight. With Donyell Marshall sidelined with a hip injury, Russian native Andrei Kirilenko stepped into the starting lineup. Though Kirilenko, who already seems on the path to becoming a Sonic nemesis, played just 16 minutes, his impact on the game was considerable. Exploiting the weaknesses of Seattle's Rashard Lewis on both ends, Kirilenko scored 13 points on 5 of 9 shooting and blocked three Sonic shots.

Unheralded second round pick Jarron Collins was equally dominant. Making all 9 of his shots, Collins led the Jazz with 22 points and added a game-high 10 rebounds. Playing against smaller Sonic defenders, Collins was a monster, dominating the end of the first quarter.

Seattle's youth movement was unequal to the task. Lewis, who on Monday was quoted in the Tacoma News-Tribune as saying he was deserving of a max contract when he opts to become a free agent this summer, struggled. Lewis made just 2 of 9 attempts from the field, scoring most of his 9 points at the line, and grabbed just 2 rebounds in 35 minutes of action. Second-year man Desmond Mason, who has struggled since returning from a sprained knee, made just 2 of 10 shots but also was successful at the line, making all six of his attempts to score 10 points. More ghastly were Mason's six turnovers, as the Sonics were careless with the ball, committing 19 turnovers as a team.

With both sides getting about their expected production from veterans, as Gary Payton and Vin Baker (34 points) essentially canceled out John Stockton and Karl Malone (32 points), the game came down to a battle of youth, and the outcome of that matchup, like the game, was all Utah.

In the first half, it did look like Seattle might be able to beat the Jazz for the first time since the 1999-2000 playoffs, when the teams squared off with Utah winning in five games. The Jazz entered the second quarter up four points, thanks largely to the play of Collins, but went ice cold offensively. In the first seven and a half minutes of the quarter, Utah scored just four points as Seattle went on a 14-4 run that took them from down five to up five.

Both coaches were displeased with the refereeing during the second quarter, with Seattle's Nate McMillan and Utah's Jerry Sloan receiving technicals within thirty seconds of game time of each other.

Malone re-entered that game after the second t and got rolling, scoring eight straight Utah points to close the half, but a Brent Barry three with three seconds left in the half meant the teams hit the locker room tied at 41 apiece.

Whatever Jerry Sloan said worked, as Utah came out firing on all cyllinders. Kirilenko used excellent away- from-the-ball movement to record nine of his points in a 15-4 run that put the Jazz up by 12 five minutes into the second half. After the Sonics cut the lead to four on a Vladimir Radmanovic three pointer, the Jazz were off and running again, and a 9-0 run enabled them to coast to the final period with a 10 point lead.

Utah finished the Sonics off by holding them scoreless over a four-minute stretch of the middle of the final period. The corresponding 11-0 run gave the Jazz their biggest lead of the night at 21, and sent both sides deep into their benches safe in the knowledge that Utah's streak of Sonic dominance would continue at least one more game.