Sonics Lose To Suns, But Gain Gill Soon Phoenix Regains Lead In Pacific Despite Efforts Of Kemp, Perkins

The great Pacific Division Showdown came to the Tacoma Dome on Tuesday night.

The Seattle SuperSonics went bust.

Charles Barkley and the Phoenix Suns came to town a half game behind the Seattle SuperSonics, and allowing the second-most points per game in the NBA.

They left T-town basking in the glow of a 96-90 victory over the Sonics, the second-most prolific scoring team in the NBA.

“It was a big game and we didn’t play it as a big game,” Sonics forward Detlef Schrempf said. “I wasn’t even there. We just didn’t shoot the ball well enough to win the ballgame.”

An understatement if ever there was one. The Sonics shot a seasonlow 36.3 percent from the field, also the Suns’ best defensive effort.

More importantly, the Sonics slipped to 53-22, and lost the season series 3-1 to the Suns (54-22). The Sonics are fourth in the Western Conference, have lost the season series to Phoenix, Utah and San Antonio, and haven’t beaten any of those teams since November.

“This game is not going to determine the season,” Sonics coach George Karl said. “It’s not a bad basketball game for us. We just lost it. They’ve got a very tough week.”

That left Karl somewhere between the eternal optimist, simply naive or in a state of denial. The Suns play five of their last six games at home, while the Sonics play four of their last seven on the road.

Winning the division and the second seed means playing Portland, who the Sonics have defeated in three of four games. Finishing fourth means playing the Los Angeles Lakers, against whom they are 0-4.

Any questions?

“We were in a good position to take control (of the division),” Sonics forward Sam Perkins said. “Now the opportunity is gone. We need help from other (teams).”

The Suns blew open the game at the start of the fourth quarter, outscoring the Sonics 19-6 and the final score was closer than the Sonics had been since the first 2 minutes of the final period. Dan Majerle sank all three of his 3-point attempts in the fourth quarter - all four of his field goals in the game were from 3-point range - with 12 points overall. Kevin Johnson came off the bench with 18 points and six assists, followed by Barkley’s 17 points and 14 rebounds, with Elliot Perry and Wesley Person adding 15 apiece.

The Sonics had a nightmare offensively, despite Shawn Kemp’s 27 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks, while Perkins had 24 points and eight rebounds. Gary Payton 20 points but the final four were on uncontested layups in the final minute when the Suns had the game put away. He was 9-for-25 from the field and Schrempf 2-for-9 - two players shooting better than 50 percent from the field all season.

Suns 96, SuperSonics 90

FG FT Reb

PHOENIX Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Barkley 44 7-20 1-5 3-14 4 3 17 Green 44 4-10 3-4 2-9 3 0 11 Kleine 16 0-2 0-0 1-5 0 2 0 Perry 25 6-9 2-3 1-2 4 2 15 Person 26 5-11 2-2 0-3 3 1 15 Tisdale 17 3-6 0-0 2-4 0 5 6 K.Johnson 26 4-5 10-11 1-3 6 3 18 Majerle 34 4-11 0-0 0-3 3 3 12 Dumas 7 1-3 0-0 1-1 1 1 2 Ruffin 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 34-77 18-25 11-44 24 20 96

Percentages: FG .442, FT .720.

3-Point Goals: 10-22, .455 (Majerle 4-9, Person 3-7, Barkley 2-4, Perry 1-1, Green 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 11.

Blocked shots: 3 (Barkley, Kleine, K.Johnson).

Turnovers: 18 (Barkley 6, Green 3, Kleine 2, Perry 2, K.Johnson 2, Person, Tisdale, Majerle).

Steals: 7 (Barkley 2, Green 2, Perry, Majerle, Dumas).

Technical foul: Barkley, 6:11 second.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 41 8-18 11-14 8-15 1 3 27 Perkins 36 8-16 6-6 4-8 0 0 24 E.Johnson 15 2-5 0-2 4-8 1 2 4 Payton 43 9-25 1-3 4-9 6 3 20 Schrempf 31 2-9 1-2 0-3 2 5 5 McMillan 34 0-5 0-0 1-4 4 4 0 Askew 23 1-7 2-2 0-2 4 1 4 Marciulionis 17 3-6 0-0 0-0 0 1 6 Totals 240 33-91 21-29 21-49 18 19 90

Percentages: FG .363, FT .724.

3-Point Goals: 3-17, .176 (Perkins 2-6, Payton 1-2, Schrempf 0-2, Askew 0-2, Marciulionis 0-2, McMillan 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 12.

Blocked shots: 5 (Kemp 3, W.Johnson, McMillan).

Turnovers: 14 (Kemp 4, Payton 4, Schrempf 2, Askew, Marciulionis, team 2).

Steals: 11 (Payton 3, McMillan 3, Kemp 2, Perkins, Askew, Marciulionis).

Technical fouls: Marciulionis, 9:05 second; Illegal defense, 8:40 third.

Illegal defense: 1.

Phoenix 22 24 22 28 - 96

Seattle 26 19 21 24 - 90

A-18,056 (16,296). T-2:16.

Officials-Jake O’Donnell, Ed Middleton, Bruce Alexander.