These are the kinds of losses that come back to haunt a team.

Cruising along in the first half against a lifeless Denver Nuggets team, the Seattle SuperSonics fell asleep at the wheel in the second half, drove off a mile-high cliff, plunged headfirst into a crevasse and self-destructed.

In case you couldn't tell, the Sonics lost, 96-90, at Pepsi Center on Friday night.

But it wasn't just a loss. It was an extremely painful loss, because it came against a team that is having a worse year than Enron.

With a point guard who wants to be traded, a coach that has been fired for making racially charged comments and the worst record in the Western Conference, this is a Nuggets squad the Sonics should have defeated as they battle night after night to stay among the teams fighting for a playoff berth.

Instead, the Sonics had cement shoes as the Nuggets whizzed past them in a stunning third quarter that saw Seattle go from a 13-point halftime lead to an eight-point deficit.

"We should have won this game," Gary Payton said. "This is a hard loss. We give away a game like this, and it really hurts. It does put a little damper in our spirits, but we have to just come back tomorrow (against the Nuggets at home) and play."

What is perhaps the most amazing part of Seattle's second consecutive loss, dropping it to 19-19, is that it came at the hands of two players who many of the Sonics probably never heard of.

With starting center Raef LaFrentz and point guard Nick Van Exel playing as if they had sharp sticks in their eyes, role players Zendon Hamilton and Ryan Bowen absolutely took it to Seattle.

It was bad enough when the Sonics got torched in Utah by rookies Jarron Collins and Andrei Kirilenko, but on Friday they were exposed by two guys who combine to average 7.1 points and 7 rebounds in less than 32 minutes a game.

Hamilton had a career night with 12 points and 16 rebounds, including 11 offensive rebounds; Bowen had a career-high 18 points and 12 rebounds; and that didn't include Voshon Lenard, a Miami Heat castoff, who had a career-high 27 points, hitting five of six 3-pointers in 30 minutes off the bench.

"That's why teams have those kinds of players on their bench," Brent Barry said. "Teams call on them and they are ready to go. On the flip side for us, it was a terrible lack of concentration."

One play by Bowen summarized the second-half blitz. With Van Exel and LaFrentz on the bench and the Nuggets in the midst of outscoring the Sonics 36-15 in the third quarter, a missed Nuggets shot was careening out of bounds by the Sonics bench.

Payton raced over to snare it, but Bowen raced faster. As the ball headed into the stands, Bowen dove over the Sonics' bench, grabbed the ball in midair and threw it back onto the court as he threw a full bodycheck into Sonics team physician Dr. Jeffrey Cary.

As everybody checked to see whether Cary was still among the living, James Posey drove the baseline with the ball and laid it in to tie the game at 61.

"I just thought I had to do something," Bowen said. "It was an instinct thing."

It capped off a run by Denver that started with the Sonics missing shots and the Nuggets grabbing rebounds, racing to the other end and invariably laying in shots. In the third-quarter alone, Denver (12-26) had 10 fast-break points and 22 points in the paint.

After Bowen's heroics and Posey's basket, the Nuggets went on to score eight more unanswered points in the quarter, taking a 69-61 lead into the final period as the Sonics looked rattled and panicked.

"It was like a runaway train," Sonics coach Nate McMillan said. "It's shocking to see that game turn around the way it did. All the things we did right in the first half, we did totally opposite in the second half. It was disappointing to lose because of effort, getting outworked."

McMillan said before the game that the team that wins the first game in the Friday-Saturday home-and-home series has a huge advantage because it takes the pressure off for tonight's game.

For 24 minutes of what started out as an uninspiring game, the Sonics looked in control. But McMillan, who changed the starting lineup, may have to come up with a new plan for tonight. He got only six points from his bench, and overall the Sonics were outrebounded, 55-33, continuing their season-long struggle on the boards.

And there isn't much time to regroup for tonight.

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* Reach staff writer Frank Hughes at 253-597-8742, ext. 6120, or [email protected]

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Nuggets 96, sonics 90

Today, Denver at Seattle, 7 p.m., 950-AM. No TV.

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SIDEBAR: GAME DAY

Matchup - Denver Nuggets at Sonics

When - 7 p.m., KeyArena TV - None

Radio - KJR-AM 950

The series - The Nuggets defeated the Sonics on Friday night, and have swept their two meetings so far this season.

Scouting report - Tonight is the first of a five-part Bobblehead giveaway night, with Gary Payton the first in the series. The game is close to being a sellout. The Sonics lost to the Nuggets,

96-90, Friday night in Denver, giving them a two-game losing streak. This is the second half of a rare home-and-home series. After tonight's game, the Sonics leave for a four-game trip.

Next - 11 a.m., Monday, at Philadelphia 76ers, First Union Center.