Sonics Put Clamps On Grizzlies Payton Tops Offense As Seattle Holds Vancouver To 68 Points

The Seattle SuperSonics said it was stingy defense. Brian Winters said it was a case of a missing “Big Country.”

“I like to play off the low post and, without Bryant (Reeves), that made it difficult and a lot harder on our perimeter players,” the Grizzles coach said after Seattle’s 92-68 victory on Thursday night.

The Grizzles committed a franchise-worst 32 turnovers as the Sonics held them to a record-low point total for a Seattle opponent.

With the 7-foot, 292-pound Reeves out with back spasms, Vancouver didn’t have much of an inside game for the Sonics to worry about, and Seattle was able to pressure the Grizzlies’ outside shooters.

Winters said he didn’t know if his rookie from Oklahoma State would be able to play against Phoenix at home tonight.

Gary Payton scored 22 points and Shawn Kemp had 15 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots to lead the Sonics, who lost in Vancouver 94-93 Tuesday night in a game in which Reeves hurt his back.

Vancouver’s 68 points broke the previous all-time low of 70 points set by Charlotte against Seattle on Feb. 18, 1990, and by Dallas Dec. 25, 1989.

But the Grizzlies scored six more points than their season-low of 62 points in a loss in San Antonio on Nov. 8.

“We just kept people in front of us and played good defense,” Payton said. “When we do that, teams miss shots against us.”

“We shouldn’t have lost in Vancouver the other night,” Kemp said. “We were in control the whole game until the end. This time, we weren’t going to let that happen to us.”

Anthony Avent scored 16 points for the Grizzlies (4-22).

In a game in which the Grizzlies shot 40 percent (26 for 65, including 1 for 11 from 3-point range) and the Sonics 46 percent (33 for 73), the Key Arena crowd of 17,072 began going home early in the fourth quarter.

Payton, Seattle’s All-Star point guard, played only 31 minutes and shot 10-for-18. Kemp played 34 minutes and got off only seven shots as the Grizzlies collapsed around the Sonics’ All-Star power forward.

It may not have an artistic win, but Sonics coach George Karl took it with a smile.

“We need to dominate defensively in order to be successful,” Karl said. “We played one end of the court pretty well.”

Seattle outscored the Grizzlies 10-3 in a 4-1/2-minute stretch in the third quarter to lead 65-42, and the Sonics were up 74-50 going into the final quarter.

Seattle gave rookie Sherell Ford, its first-round draft choice, his first career start. Ford, who played only 46 minutes in the Sonics’ first 23 games, scored two points in 14 minutes.

“I was a little nervous, but it was great,” Ford said. “I hope the coach starts me some more.”

For Vancouver, Blue Edwards might have wished he hadn’t played. He missed all nine shots he took and had just one point.

“The first couple shots I take are usually an indication of how the night will go,” said Edwards. “It’s hard to believe, but emotionally we were flat tonight after that win Tuesday.”

Reeves spent the game in his club’s dressing room getting treatment on his back. In his place, Winters started Eric Mobley, who fouled out in 28 minutes.

SuperSonics 92, Grizzlies 68

FG FT Reb VANCOUVER Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Avent 32 8-13 0-0 2-9 0 6 16 King 32 4-9 3-4 2-5 2 3 11 Mobley 28 2-4 1-4 2-7 1 6 5 B.Edwards 28 0-9 1-2 0-4 2 2 1 Murdock 25 3-8 4-4 0-4 2 1 11 D.Edwards 24 4-7 1-2 2-4 4 1 9 Amaya 18 0-2 0-0 0-1 0 6 0 Martin 23 3-5 4-4 1-3 2 4 10 Scott 15 1-4 0-0 1-4 2 1 2 Moten 15 1-4 1-2 0-1 0 1 3 Totals 240 26-65 15-22 10-42 15 31 68

Percentages: FG .400, FT .682.

3-Point Goals: 1-11, .091 (Murdock 1-4, Mobley 0-1, D.Edwards 0-1, Scott 0-2, B.Edwards 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 11.

Blocked shots: 7 (King 2, B.Edwards 2, D.Edwards 2, Scott).

Turnovers: 32 (B.Edwards 5, D.Edwards 5, Martin 4, Mobley 4, King 3, Moten 3, Amaya 2, Murdock 2, Avent, team 3).

Steals: 12 (Martin 3, Murdock 2, B.Edwards 2, Mobley, D.Edwards, Amaya, Scott, Moten).

Technical fouls: None.

Illegal defense: None.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Ford 14 1-6 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 Kemp 34 4-7 7-15 4-12 4 3 15 Johnson 19 2-4 0-0 0-1 3 4 4 Hawkins 30 3-8 1-2 0-2 3 0 8 Payton 31 10-18 0-3 5-7 6 1 22 Askew 27 1-4 4-4 1-3 1 3 6 Perkins 13 2-4 5-6 0-1 1 1 9 McMillan 17 2-7 0-0 0-0 2 1 5 Wingate 19 5-7 0-0 0-3 0 3 10 Brickowski 18 0-1 2-2 1-3 1 0 2 Snow 9 2-4 0-0 0-0 1 1 5 Scheffler 9 1-3 2-2 0-1 0 1 4 Totals 240 33-73 21-34 11-33 22 20 92

Percentages: FG .452, FT .618.

3-Point Goals: 5-17, .294 (Payton 2-4, Snow 1-1, McMillan 1-3, Hawkins 1-3, Kemp 0-1, Askew 0-1, Perkins 0-1, Scheffler 0-1, Ford 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 13.

Blocked shots: 7 (Kemp 5, Brickowski 2).

Turnovers: 19 (Kemp 4, Brickowski 4, Payton 2, Askew 2, Wingate 2, Snow 2, Johnson, Hawkins, McMillan).

Steals: 15 (Payton 4, Kemp 3, Hawkins 2, McMillan 2, Ford, Askew, Perkins, Snow).

Technical fouls: Askew, 10:37 fourth; Kemp, 9:56 fourth.

Illegal defense: 1.

Vancouver 17 15 18 18 - 68

Seattle 25 26 23 18 - 92

A-17,072 (17,072). T-2:00.