22 -- The number of turnovers Seattle had, as giveaways came back to haunt Seattle again in a 108-86 blowout loss to the Wizards in Washington, D.C. Sunday morning.

11-of-34 -- The combined shooting numbers from the floor of Kevin Durant and Jeff Green in the two rookie’s return home as both struggled to find their shooting rhythm.

38.1-- Seattle’s shooting percentage for the game, 32-of-84 from the field.

33-- The number of points for small forward Caron Butler, who has taken over for the Wizards since Gilbert Arenas has been out after having knee surgery in November.

51-43 -- Seattle’s advantage in rebounds as both Nick Collison (17 rebounds overall, seven offensive boards) and Kurt Thomas (13 rebounds) had strong nights on the glass for Seattle.

Boxscore -- Check it out here.

Durant watch -- Kevin Durant struggled from the floor, finishing with 19 points on 7-of-21 shooting from the field. He also grabbed six rebounds. There were several people wearing Kevin Durant jerseys in attendance, and Durant’s parents and other family members sat courtside on the baseline.

However, Durant said he was not trying to do too much to have a good game in front of his hometown fans.

“I wouldn’t say I was pressing,” Durant said about his cold shooting. “I think I was taking good shots, shots I normally take throughout the game. And those are shots I have to knock down – like the wide open shots in the corner I was missing.
“Going to the rim and missing lay-ups, stuff like that I have to knock down. I’ve got to do a better job of putting pressure on the defense.”

Listen to the conversation with Durant here.

Did you see that? -- You probably didn’t see much because the game wasn’t televised today. You didn’t miss a whole lot. Seattle played OK for almost three quarters but just suffered an offensive meltdown at the end of the third quarter, allowing Washington to spurt ahead by nine points, and the Sonics never recovered.

Overheard -- Pretty hard to overhear anything happening on the court when you’re 20 rows up, which is where the visitor’s media seating is for the Verizon Center. So no juicy tidbits could be gathered for this spot.

I do have this quote from Wally Szczerbiak which I thought was interesting. Wally responded to a question about how he knows if his shooting stroke is on.

“I feel like I’m going to be shooting it well everyday if you give me a chance to play, that’s just my mentality,” Szczerbiak said. “I’m going to try and stay aggressive. If I miss two or three in a row, I feel like the next four or five are going to go in. That’s just the mentality that shooters have. That’s the mentality I try to have. In the situation I’m in, it’s nice if the first couple go in because then I don’t get pulled out real quick.”

You can listen to the rest of the conversation with Szczerbiak here.

Final take -- Defensively Seattle’s bench has struggled and not brought the same intensity to the floor the past couple games, which has caused Carlesimo to use the starters more.

Part of the reason for that is Chris Wilcox being hurt and not being able to bring Collison off the bench. Collison really plays well against the opponents’ second units, and is probably a starter on some other NBA teams in the right situation.

Kurt Thomas also is logging a lot of minutes at the center spot, averaging 31.6 minutes a contest the last five games. At the beginning of the year Carlesimo said he’d like to keep the veteran’s minutes to around 25 minutes a game. But with Wilcox and Robert Swift out, and with Seattle’s big guys getting into foul trouble Thomas, has found himself out on the floor more.

But Thomas said he’s fine with the extended minutes.

“I’m feeling good,” Thomas said. “I’m well rested. I feel like I’m really starting to get in shape and really run up and down the floor. We’re a little stretched with Chris being out. I definitely have to try to stay out there on the floor to help the team as much as I can.”

Seattle also can only use youth as an excuse for the mental lapses they have during stretches of games that basically keeps Seattle from winning.

Now 33 games into the schedule the team’s young players should be adjusting to the speed of the game and should understand what it takes to win games late. They should not be repeating the same mistakes.

Playing in only their second afternoon game of the season, Seattle also could have been thrown off by the early start, although Szczerbiak said that’s not an excuse.

Szczerbiak said he plays in a 9 a.m. pick-up game every Sunday during the summer that is one of his main workout during the offseason.

“I’ve always enjoyed the early starts but it’s an adjustment,” Szczerbiak said. “You’ve got to make sure you get your rest. And on the road that’s what it’s all about. We’re here to do a job. We’re here to win games and we’ve got to make that a priority.”

Listen to Carlesimo talk about the game here. And Jeff Green talks about his return to D.C. here.