Payton Hits All 14 Shots; Sonics Romp

Gary Payton would have enjoyed his record-setting performance even more if the Seattle SuperSonics had needed it.

“We were cruising tonight, so I really didn’t have to take that many shots,” said Payton, who set a team record for accuracy by going 14 for 14 from the floor Wednesday night as the Sonics cooled off the Cleveland Cavaliers 116-85.

The loss stopped Cleveland’s 11-game winning streak.

Payton scored 32 points and beat Lonnie Shelton’s team record of 13 shots without a miss set in 1979 against Cleveland. Wilt Chamberlain holds the NBA record of 18 for 18 for Philadelphia against Baltimore in 1967.

“Today, everything was just wideopen for me,” Payton said. “I wasn’t even thinking about not missing a shot. I knew I hadn’t missed, but I didn’t know how many shots I had taken. You know, what with shooting from the field and free throws and all that, you just don’t know.”

Payton also was perfect at the line, making all three tries. He added six assists and five rebounds.

He was taken out of the game when he had made 12 baskets by early in the fourth quarter, then went back in with the sole intention of getting the team record with 7:59 remaining. He tied Shelton by sinking a fast-break layup with 7:09 to go, then set the mark on a fast-break dunk with 5:41 left.

“I didn’t know about the streak until Coach (George Karl) told me,” said Payton, who made 10 layups, two short jumpers, a dunk and a 3-pointer. “He asked me if I wanted to go back in to set the record. I said, ‘Sure, I’ll go back.’ We deliberately tried to set up some plays that would make for easy shots, and fortunately I got some layups.”

Cleveland’s winning streak had tied a team record. The loss was by far the most lopsided in Mike Fratello’s two seasons as the Cavs’ coach; he did not lose a game by more than 17 last year or through 28 games this year.

“We had an opportunity to make it 12 games, but it didn’t work,” Fratello said. “Now our main objective is to get back to playing good basketball. This was not a reflection of how we had been playing, but that is what Seattle can do to a team.”

Payton was the convincing winner in a duel of All-Star point guards, outplaying Cleveland’s Mark Price, who had 13 points on 4-of-10 shooting.

“The key to the whole game was when we took Price out of it,” Payton said. “Without him hitting those 3s and those tough shots, it’s tough for that team to win.”

Detlef Schrempf scored 20 and Kendall Gill had 13 for the Sonics, who shot 61 percent from the field. John Williams had 17 for Cleveland, which shot 39 percent.

Seattle took control quickly, using its trapping defense and fast-break offense to jump to a 17-5 lead just five minutes into the game.

The Sonics built the advantage to 31-21 after one quarter and 59-44 at halftime, then ended all doubt by running off the first eight points of the third quarter on 3-pointers by Payton and Gill and a layup by Payton.

SuperSonics 116, Cavaliers 85

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Schrempf 32 8-15 3-4 1-6 6 2 20 Kemp 28 3-5 0-0 1-6 2 5 6 Perkins 25 3-6 0-0 0-2 2 3 8 Gill 29 6-11 0-0 1-5 3 3 13 Payton 33 14-14 3-3 1-5 6 2 32 McMillan 23 3-4 1-2 0-5 2 2 9 Johnson 16 2-4 0-0 1-6 0 3 4 Askew 22 4-4 1-2 2-3 3 3 10 Marciulionis 19 3-6 3-4 0-0 4 4 11 Houston 7 0-3 0-0 2-2 0 2 0 Wingfield 6 1-5 0-0 1-2 1 1 3 Totals 240 47-77 11-15 10-42 29 30 116

Percentages: FG .610, FT .733.

3-Point Goals: 11-18, .611 (Marciulionis 2-2, McMillan 2-3, Perkins 2-4, Payton 1-1, Askew 1-1, Schrempf 1-2, Gill 1-2, Wingfield 1-2, Houston 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 6.

Blocked shots: 4 (Kemp 2, Schrempf, Johnson).

Turnovers: 14 (Kemp 4, Payton 3, McMillan 2, Askew 2, Schrempf, Gill, Marciulionis).

Steals: 7 (Schrempf 2, Payton 2, Kemp, Gill, Marciulionis).

Technical fouls: Seattle illegal defense, 9:22 third; Askew, 1:17 third.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb CLEVELAND Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Mills 22 0-5 2-2 1-2 2 2 2 Hill 25 5-8 1-4 6-11 1 4 11 Williams 31 7-14 3-7 4-6 1 2 17 Phills 20 2-7 2-2 0-1 0 4 6 Price 31 4-10 3-3 0-1 6 0 13 Battle 24 3-7 1-2 0-0 3 2 7 Cage 22 2-4 0-0 0-3 1 2 4 Ferry 23 3-9 0-0 1-3 1 1 8 Brandon 16 3-9 2-2 1-1 1 1 8 Campbell 12 0-2 1-2 0-1 1 0 1 Dreiling 10 0-1 5-6 1-2 0 1 5 Colter 4 1-1 1-3 0-1 0 0 3 Totals 240 30-77 21-33 14-32 17 19 85

Percentages: FG .390, FT .636.

3-Point Goals: 4-16, .250 (Ferry 2-5, Price 2-6, Battle 0-1, Mills 0-2, Brandon 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 13.

Blocked shots: 4 (Ferry 2, Williams, Battle).

Turnovers: 12 (Mills 2, Williams 2, Price 2, Battle 2, Hill, Phills, Ferry, Brandon).

Steals: 1 (Cage).

Technical fouls: Coach Fratello, 8:34 third; Mills, 1:17 third.

Illegal defense: None.

Seattle 31 28 31 26 - 116 Cleveland 21 23 22 19 - 85

A-20,562. T-2:01.

Officials-Lee Jones, Bennett Salvatore, Gary Benson.