The Sonics and Suns are shooting for one of the final playoff spots in the Western Conference. After up-and-down seasons heading toward the All-Star break, the teams entered last night with the same record.

Seattle supposedly had the home-court advantage. Except that lately, KeyArena has brought out the worst in the Sonics.

Last night, the Sonics gave 15,124 fans enough to cheer about during a 90-79 victory.

The outcome snapped a three-game home losing streak and ended the first half of the season with back-to-back wins.

"It's important that you take advantage of your home court and you come out with aggressive play, and you play good basketball at home," said Coach Nate McMillan, whose team doesn't play again until Tuesday when the Mavericks visit KeyArena. "You don't want to get beat at home not playing with intensity or executing.

"The last three games, part of that was to blame. If a team beats you at home, it has to be because they out-executed you on the floor. It (shouldn't be) because of a lack of intensity. In the second half (of the season), we have a lot of games at home, and we need to take advantage of it."

During Seattle's home losing skid, Gary Payton had been the only player who flourished in virtually every game.

But on a night that Payton gave his teammates expensive, Swiss watches as a goodwill gesture, they staged a fourth-quarter comeback despite having him on the bench most of the quarter.

A lineup of Earl Watson, Desmond Mason, Brent Barry, Vladimir Radmanovic and Vin Baker played swarming defense that led to easy baskets in the fourth quarter.

"We got up in their faces," Mason said. "We didn't let them put the ball on the floor. We cut off every angle of the basket, and we had guys helping out well. It was just great defense in the second half."

Baker (17 points, nine rebounds and five assists) provided a low-post presence. And Barry ? who has been criticized for his defense ? looked like the Glove, with six steals and two blocks.

When Payton returned with 4:14 left to replace Watson, the Sonics led 77-71.

"We have confidence in Earl to run the team, and with Brent having a good game this is great for us," said Payton, who tied a season low with 11 points in 33 minutes. "This gives them more confidence that they don't have to go to me all the time to win basketball games.

"It was great to sit down over there and watch them have a good time. They did it with defense, hustling and steals. It was fun for them."

Seattle took its first lead of the game early in the fourth quarter after Baker drew a double team in the paint.

Baker kicked it out to Barry at the top of the circle for a three-pointer, which gave Seattle a 70-67 lead with 10:17 left.

And with spectators screaming and cheering ? and Phoenix reeling ? KeyArena finally felt like home-court advantage.

The Sonics limited Phoenix to 27 points in the second half and 39.8 percent shooting overall.

Seattle presented a new look to its frontcourt with the 7-foot-1 Jerome James starting at center and the 6-11 Baker at power forward.

McMillan has wanted to use the combination for some time. But injuries prevented it virtually the entire season.

Tuesday against the Warriors, James started but Baker sat out with neck spasms during a 113-87 Sonics victory.

Last night, neither Sonics big man could do much against Jake Tsakalidis, who had eight points, 11 rebounds and three blocks in the first half.

James was wracked by foul trouble. So the Sonics went back to their usual small lineup, spurring a second-half comeback.