Sonics Stifle Mavs Seattle Picks Up Pace, Leaves Dallas Behind, 133-112

Gary Payton, Detlef Schrempf and the Seattle SuperSonics know the faster they play the better they play.

They shot a season-worst 36 percent in a slow-paced loss to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. They ran non-stop Thursday night in running the Dallas Mavericks off the Tacoma Dome floor in a 133-112 romp.

“Our emphasis was for the tempo to be fast,” Sonics coach George Karl said. “This was the fastest tempo we’ve had in a long time and it showed.”

Payton and Schrempf are the Sonics’ top two scorers. They combined for 25 points on 11-for-34 shooting in the 96-90 loss to Phoenix. Against the Mavericks, they scored 46 points on 19-for-31 shooting and both sat out the final 15 minutes of the game.

“We wanted to go up and down the court quickly and we did that, especially in the first half,” Schrempf said.

He and Payton combined for 37 points in the first half as the Sonics rolled to a 73-47 halftime lead. The Mavericks never cut the deficit under 20 points after the second period.

“It was nice to get up early and relax,” Nate McMillan said. “The way we won is satisfying.”

McMillan handed out a season-high 15 assists as the Sonics beat the Mavericks for the eighth straight time and 16th in the last 17 meetings.

The Sonics moved within one-half game of the Utah Jazz and Phoenix in the race for the second seeding in the Western Conference.

Mavericks coach Dick Motta was impressed. “They were way, way too much for us,” he said.

How does the loss affect the Mavericks’ playoff hopes as they are three games out of the eighth and final spot with six games remaining?

“The playoff situation was a figment of the media’s imagination,” Motta said. “We also got to see a team totally up for us tonight.”

Led by Payton’s seven steals, the Sonics’ defense smothered the Mavericks and held them to 36-percent shooting.

After getting his third triple-double in a week in a 156-147 win at Houston on Tuesday, Jason Kidd scored 13 points, all in the first quarter.

“It got ugly pretty fast out there,” Kidd said.

Jamal Mashburn, who averages 24.5 per game, was held to eight points on 3-for-13 shooting.

“We just ran into a team that is molding into playoff shape,” he said.

Motta pulled both his young stars early with the Sonics in command and neither played during the fourth quarter. The Mavs need both to be rested for road games Friday in Portland and Saturday in Los Angeles against the Lakers.

The Sonics outscored the Mavericks 42-20 in the second quarter.The Sonics played a unit of 6-foot-6 Vincent Askew, 6-5 Byron Houston, 6-11 Ervin Johnson, 6-9 Steve Scheffler and 6-8 rookie Dontonio Wingfield the final 5 minutes.”It becomes chaotic basketball because no one wants to take the other team’s little guy,” Scheffler said. “When you have a big lead, it doesn’t matter as much.”Tony Dumas led the Mavs with 24 points.

SuperSonics 133, Mavericks 112

FG FT Reb DALLAS Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Jones 21 1-6 0-0 2-5 0 4 2 Mashburn 24 3-13 0-0 1-5 6 0 8 Williams 24 2-5 0-0 5-10 0 4 4 Harris 26 4-9 5-7 0-0 1 2 15 Kidd 23 4-9 2-2 2-4 4 3 13 Tarpley 14 3-6 0-0 2-4 0 0 6 Brooks 21 5-11 1-1 1-3 6 2 12 Dumas 26 8-18 5-8 4-5 0 4 24 McCloud 17 2-5 6-7 1-5 2 1 11 Smith 24 4-9 2-2 4-5 0 4 10 Hodge 13 1-10 2-2 0-2 2 1 4 Davis 7 1-4 1-3 2-6 0 1 3 Totals 240 38-105 24-32 24-54 21 26 112

Percentages: FG .362, FT .750.

3-Point Goals: 12-29, .414 (Kidd 3-6, Dumas 3-8, Harris 2-4, Mashburn 2-5, Brooks 1-1, McCloud 1-3, Smith 0-1, Hodge 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 10

Blocked shots: 5 (Williams 2, Jones, Hodge, Smith).

Turnovers: 18 (Kidd 5, Mashburn 4, Dumas 3, Jones 2, Williams, Harris, Tarpley, Hodge).

Steals: 9 (Kidd 2, Mashburn, Harris, Tarpley, Brooks, McCloud, Smith, Hodge).

Technical fouls: Coach Motta, 3:43, second; Smith, 7:13, fourth.

Illegal defense: None.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 34 6-14 6-9 6-19 3 5 18 Perkins 31 5-12 2-2 1-4 2 0 13 Johnson 31 4-7 2-3 1-5 0 5 10 Payton 24 11-18 1-2 0-5 4 1 24 Schrempf 26 8-13 5-6 1-5 1 3 22 McMillan 32 4-6 2-2 1-4 15 1 10 Askew 27 6-11 2-4 2-5 3 1 14 Houston 14 4-4 2-2 0-2 0 3 10 Scheffler 13 2-2 2-2 0-1 0 1 6 Wingfield 6 3-6 0-0 0-1 0 1 6 Totals 240 53-93 24-32 12-51 28 21 133

Percentages: FG .570, FT .750.

3-Point Goals: 3-11, .273 (Payton 1-2, Schrempf 1-2, Perkins 1-4, McMillan 0-1, Wingfield 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 8

Blocked shots: 10 (Johnson 4, McMillan 2, Kemp, Wingfield, Perkins, Houston).

Turnovers: 16 (Kemp 4, Johnson 2, McMillan 2, Houston 2, Perkins, Payton, Schrempf, Askew, Scheffler, Wingfield).

Steals: 14 (Payton 7, Perkins 2, Schrempf 2, Kemp, McMillan, Askew).

Technical fouls: Payton, 11:25, second; Houston, 7:13, fourth; Delay of game, :37, second.

Illegal defense: None. Dallas 27 20 26 39 - 112 Seattle 31 42 27 33 - 133

A-15,900 (16,296). T-2:05.

Officials-Steve Javie, Greg Willard, Tom Washington.