Seattle lost its fifth straight preseason game, and again could not hold onto a lead late in falling to Portland.

Seattle native Brandon Roy led the Trail Blazers with 14 of his 22 points in the last six minutes.

Roy, who has been nursing a bruised left heel, wasn't even supposed to play in the final quarter.

"I wasn't satisfied with my time. So, I said, 'Can I go back in?' the coaches said 'Yeah.' I felt a lot better. I have rhythm now."

Seattle led by as many as 13 points, but just like the Golden State game a day ago, couldn't close out the win.

Part of the reason is Carlesimo continues to play different lineups, which makes it tough to build continuity with different playing shuttling in and out.

Listen to PJ talk about the game here.

Nick Collison led Seattle with 17 points, Delonte West finished with 16 and Mickael Gelabale totaled 16 points in a surprising 21 minutes of action.

Luke Ridnour started at point guard and also had a solid game, finishing with eight points, eight rebounds and no turnovers. Ridnour talks about his performance here.

“It’s frustrating to lose a game where you feel like you had control the whole way,” Collison said. “In the NBA, you get a lot of these close games. And it doesn’t do you any good to be close and lose. So we’ve got to find a way to win games like that.”

Listen to more of the Collison conversation here.

The Sonics also had trouble stopping Portland big man LaMarcus Aldridge, who finished with 31 points and 12 rebounds.

The Sonics seem to be playing better the last two games, but closing out victories and winning close game is an important thing to learn. We'll see how the team works to get better at that during the year.

A much better effort in the second quarter, as Seattle outscored Portland 36-25 to regain the lead.

Seattle shot 55.6 percent from the floor and 8-for-9 from the free throw line, while Portland shot 48.8 percent from the field, and 12-of-16 from the free throw line.

We had a Mickael Gelabale sighting in the first half. The French swingman had been seldom used in the last two games, but played 12 minutes in the first had, scoring eight points.

Jeff Green also looked solid for Seattle, starting at small forward. Green played solid defense and seems to be in a better rhythm offensively. He finished with six points and four rebounds.

And Damien Wilkins continues to have a solid preseason. Wilkins led Seattle in scoring with 10 points.

Overall, Seattle is doing a better job of moving the ball and finding the open man on offense.

Seattle was down by as many as 13 points in the opening quarter but managed to cut the deficit to seven by the end of the quarter.

Defensively, Seattle still is giving up a lot of easy buckets inside. LaMarcus Aldridge did most of the damage for Portland, finishing with 13 points in the quarter. Once Portland gets Greg Oden back next season those two will be a tough duo to deal with inside.

Delonte West leads Seattle with seven points. West came in halfway through the first quarter and immediately made his presence felt with a drive down the left side of the lane for two.

West ran the point and looked comfortable.

Swift was active, finishing with four board inside.

An MRI and X-Rays revealed no fractures in Kevin Durant's left ankle, which has been diagnosed as an ankle sprain. Durant will be reevaluated next week, and will not make the trip to Vancouver.

Carlesimo he isn't too concerned with the possibility of Durant missing a game of the two of the regular season, and would just assume have Durant back healthy before rushing him back.

Starters for tonight's game against Portland are Luke (PG, Damien (SG), Jeff Green (SF), Chris Wilcox (PF) and Robert Swift (C).

Earl Watson probably will not play much tonight because he's played a lot more at point guard during the preseason than Luke. And Delonte should see some time at point guard tonight.

Here's the pregame conversation with Carlesimo. That is all for now. I'll have an update at the end of the first quarter.