Perhaps the Sonics noticed the swaths of empty seats at the Charlotte Coliseum, which make it resemble a mausoleum these days. During the first half last night, the Sonics played as if no one was watching.

The Hornets' big men made Seattle's frontcourt resemble Lilliputians while racing down the court for easy layins.

The Sonics waited until the second half to act like the game was real. But a spirited comeback fell short down the stretch, and the Hornets prevailed 111-101 in front of an announced crowd of 9,638.

"I don't want comebacks," said Coach Nate McMillan, his voice tinged with anger. "I want 48 minutes of basketball."

For the last 24 minutes the Sonics mixed aggressive defense with sharp shooting.

But the impressiveness of that second half wasn't enough to overcome a Charlotte lead that was as high as 27 in the first half.

"You're expending a lot of energy trying to get back," said Shammond Williams, who scored 13 points while making 3 of 4 three-pointers. "Not just physically but mentally. It takes a toll on you."

Monday against the 76ers, Seattle set a franchise record by shooting 66 percent to win 109-93. And last night, Seattle acted like it didn't have to bother with grunt work like defense and rebounding since the Sonics are statistically the second-best shooting team in the NBA.

"No one was thinking about (Philadelphia)," Desmond Mason said. "I just think we came out flat. We have a tendency to do that. That's something we need to correct."

When Jamaal Magloire scored a layin for Charlotte's 38-30 lead early in the second quarter, McMillan sensed that his players weren't in the mood to sweat. After calling a timeout, McMillan sat in a huddle and cursed at his players, with "defense" and "rebounding" being recurring themes.

But the Hornets, who Monday gave the Knicks their worst-ever home loss, 111-68, brimmed with confidence.

And for the rest of the quarter, the Hornets showed stinging offense ? regardless of Seattle's defense.

Charlotte's players have groused that the franchise's attempt to relocate to New Orleans next season has made the Coliseum feel like they're playing on the road. But it turned noisy in the second quarter as the Hornets scored 41 points for a 71-46 lead at halftime.

"The second quarter is what killed us," Mason said. "The lead was so big, there was no way to recover."

The points that Seattle allowed in the second quarter and for the half were the most this season.

"You win games with defense," McMillan said. "Every night that shot is not going to go in. And we are ? too many times ? depending on shooting the ball. And when our shots don't go in, we have a tendency of not playing on the other end of the floor."

Like most NBA teams, the Sonics are inconsistent. But the problem seems to be more pronounced for Seattle lately. One of Seattle's most embarrassing defeats occurred Friday in Denver after a second-half meltdown led to a 96-90 loss.

Last night, the Sonics went in the opposite direction by outscoring the Hornets 55-40 in the second half.

"You SHOULD go out and play the way we did the second half," said McMillan, whose team's season low of seven turnovers went for naught. "We took the first half off. The hill was too high for us to climb and we ran out of gas."

Seattle cut the lead to 98-94 with 3:42 left after Vin Baker scored a layin.

"I actually thought we were going to win," said Baker.

But Rashard Lewis, who scored 12 points in the third quarter, turned cold. The small forward missed three straight shots, which the Hornets parlayed into a three-pointer and a layin for a 103-96 lead.

Lewis bruised his hip late in the game, but will play when the Sonics face the Bucks tonight in Milwaukee.