That's not the way it's supposed to work. The Seattle SuperSonics entered Wednesday night's matchup with the Phoenix Suns carrying a three-game road winning streak, capped by a 26-point demolition of the Golden State Warriors a night previous in Oakland. They also brought a three-game home losing streak, capped by an embarrassing loss to the Chicago Bulls in which they allowed 41 points in the fourth quarter.

Perhaps their strategy is to avoid home court advantage in the playoffs?

For two and a half quarters, the trend continued as a listless Sonic ballclub struggled to generate any energy in a morgue-like KeyArena waiting for the team to give them something -- anything -- about which they could cheer.

The Sonics' spark came from an unlikely source.

The spark to turn around the game, involve the crowd, and irrevocably change momentum came from an unlikely source. Just a week ago, Earl Watson had been buried at the end of the Sonic bench, picking up five straight DNP-CDs. In Nate McMillan's fluid rotation, which saw Art Long go from starting against the Warriors to not getting off the bench last night, that was no obstacle to Watson returning as a key contributor over the past week.

None of his contributions have been greater to his impact on the game's tempo and style when he entered with 2:24 left in the third quarter and the Sonics down eight. A Watson-led 4-0 run ensued, as first he rebounded a Rashard Lewis miss and Jerome James made the most of the second opportunity. Then Watson stole the ball and started a fast break which ended as he went behind his back to Lewis for a dunk. Another Watson offensive rebound followed by a Gary Payton leaner to beat the buzzer cut the Phoenix lead to two at the end of the third quarter and enlivened the suddenly raucous crowd.

Playing with a lineup of Watson, Brent Barry, Desmond Mason, Vladimir Radmanovic, and Vin Baker, the Sonics clamped down defensively and confounded the Suns with their hustle and energy while also executing offensively. After the teams traded baskets, Watson took a long rebound coast-to-coast for his only field goal of the night, a layup which hung on the rim and rolled in to tie the game. Mason drew a charge, and the Sonics worked the ball in to Baker, who found Barry alone on the perimeter for a three -- one of three on the night -- to give the Sonics their first lead since 35-33. As the crowd erupted, Sun coach Scott Skiles called for timeout.

Over the next six minutes, the Seattle defense was as good as it's been all season, holding Phoenix to four points on 2 of 10 shooting and three turnovers while extending their run to 14-4 and the lead to seven.

At the 4:14 mark, Payton, who had struggled all night and finished 4 of 12 from the field, emerged from the bench like a baseball closer, rested and ready to put the game away. The Suns were turned away from the hoop for another minute and a half while the Sonics scored twice, giving them their first double-digit lead of the night. Finally, the four minute Phoenix scoring dry spell was broken by Shawn Marion at the 2:25 mark.

The Sonics were not going to collapse in the late stages of the game as they had last week, and they matched the Marion bucket with a perfect feed from Baker, who moved the ball well out of the post and had seven assists, to Barry, who finished with a layup to give him 21 points on the evening.

Seattle finished the game with solid free throw shooting. Lewis made a pair of free throws and Radmanovic five of six while Tony Delk added three meaningless baskets for the Suns to produce a 90-79 final as the Sonics edged past Phoenix and tied the Portland Trailblazers for the sixth playoff spot in the Western Conference heading to a well-deserved and much-needed rest for the All-Star break.