Sonics Set On Suns Win In 2 Overtimes For Season Sweep, But Cocky Phoenix Hardly Humbled

Take it from both the Seattle SuperSonics and the Phoenix Suns: The Sonics’ first season sweep over the Suns means little.

“I think it’s sweet any time you can sweep somebody, but they have a lot of offensive firepower and they’re capable of beating you,” Hersey Hawkins said after Seattle beat Phoenix 130-121 in double overtime Friday night for the Sonics’ ninth straight win.

The Sonics, who opened a five-game lead in the battle for the No. 1 seed in the West, were led by Shawn Kemp’s 26 points and Gary Payton’s 24 in notching their 59th victory with eight regular-season games left.

The Suns got a career-high 29 points from Wesley Person and 20 each from Charles Barkley and John Williams, and the Phoenix bench was on its feet at the end of regulation and for both overtimes.

“There’s no question,” Seattle’s Nate McMillan said. “They really wanted this game. I’m sure they still believe they can beat us.”

Barkley certainly does.

“We should have won,” Barkley said. “This one was a confidence builder. If we play well, we can beat anybody in the West. There are no great teams in the West, just several good ones.”

In the second overtime, Person gave Phoenix a 119-116 lead with a 3-pointer with 16 seconds gone, but the Sonics outscored them 14-2 the rest of the way. Detlef Schrempf tied the score with a driving layup and converted a free throw after being fouled by John Williams.

Kevin Johnson hit a layup with 3:27 left, but Payton twisted around three defenders to score a 5-footer with 3:14 left and Vincent Askew put Seattle ahead to stay at 123-121 on a 5-footer with 2:36 left.

“If we play Seattle down the road in the playoffs, we feel good about our chances,” said Johnson, who missed the first three Phoenix-Seattle games because of groin and hamstring injuries.

The Sonics agreed.

“KJ makes quite a difference and they were a good team without him,” Hawkins said.

Neither Kemp nor Barkley was around for the second overtime. Kemp fouled out in the fourth quarter and Barkley picked up his sixth foul with 3:27 to go in the first overtime.

Although Seattle was 4-0 against Phoenix this season, three of the games were close. The Sonics won one game in overtime and another by four points before the two-overtime win.

The Sonics are 4-2 in overtime games this season.

“We just keep finding ways to win,” Seattle coach George Karl said.

Danny Manning’s 14-footer with 45.3 seconds left in the first overtime tied the score at 116 after McMillan sank an 18-footer with 1:05 remaining. Person had two 3-pointers in the first overtime.

Schrempf sent the game into the first overtime tied at 104 when he sank two free throws with 1.5 seconds left after being fouled by Barkley on an inbounds play.

“It was a foul and Detlef made two great free throws under pressure,” Barkley said.

Barkley’s 14-footer with 25.2 seconds left and Michael Finley’s free throw with 2.6 seconds left had given Phoenix a 104-102 lead.

The Suns came back after Kemp fouled out with 3:18 to go with Seattle holding 99-93 lead.

Seattle went ahead for the first time in the second half at 79-78 on Askew’s fastbreak layup after Payton stole an Elliot Perry pass. The Sonics were in front 85-82 after three quarters as Sam Perkins sank two 3-pointers in the final 1:03 of the period.

Phoenix led 62-54 at halftime as Barkley scored 17 in the first half, including 10 in the second quarter.

Kemp and Hot Rod Williams each had 12 points in the first quarter. Kemp’s total included four dunks, two of them on drives around Barkley. In the second period, Kemp had another dunk after taking the ball away from Barkley underneath the Suns’ basket and knocking him to the floor.

Notes

McMillan equalled a season high with 13 points. … Phoenix has never swept Seattle in a season series. … Barkley had just three points in the second half and they came in the final 57 seconds of the fourth quarter. … The Sonics improved their home record to 35-3 with three Key Arena games left. … It was Seattle’s second double-overtime victory this season. The Sonics won in Cleveland on March 5 in the first two-overtime game.

SuperSonics 130, Suns 121

FG FT Reb PHOENIX Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Barkley 41 8-13 3-4 3-11 3 6 20 Finley 50 5-17 2-4 1-4 4 3 14 Williams 40 8-13 4-4 5-10 2 5 20 K.Johnson 48 5-10 2-2 1-4 15 2 12 Person 50 11-17 1-1 0-1 2 1 29 Manning 37 7-16 0-1 0-8 3 5 15 Green 7 1-1 1-2 0-1 0 0 3 Tisdale 12 3-5 2-2 0-2 0 4 8 Perry 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Totals 290 48-92 15-20 10-41 30 26 121

Percentages: FG .522, FT .750.

3-Point Goals: 10-21, .476 (Person 6-9, Finley 2-5, Manning 1-1, Barkley 1-4, K.Johnson 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 11.

Blocked shots: 6 (Barkley 3, Williams 2, Tisdale).

Turnovers: 19 (Manning 5, Barkley 3, K.Johnson 3, Williams 2, Tisdale 2, Finley, Perry, team 2).

Steals: 9 (K.Johnson 3, Barkley, Finley, Williams, Person, Manning, Green).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 8:33 second; Illegal defense, 7:09 third.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 37 9-14 8-10 3-9 3 6 26 Schrempf 46 5-14 5-6 5-9 6 3 16 E.Johnson 21 3-4 0-0 1-4 0 4 6 Hawkins 41 7-17 1-1 0-2 2 3 17 Payton 51 8-18 6-8 1-7 10 3 24 Perkins 34 6-11 2-4 0-2 1 2 17 Askew 29 4-7 3-4 0-2 4 2 11 McMillan 31 5-7 0-0 2-4 3 6 13 Totals 290 47-92 25-33 12-39 29 29 130

Percentages: FG .511, FT .758.

3-Point Goals: 11-21, .524 (McMillan 3-4, Perkins 3-5, Hawkins 2-4, Payton 2-6, Schrempf 1-2).

Team Rebounds: 11.

Blocked shots: 4 (E.Johnson 2, Perkins 2).

Turnovers: 17 (Kemp 6, Payton 3, E.Johnson 2, Hawkins 2, Schrempf, Perkins, Askew, McMillan).

Steals: 8 (Payton 3, Askew 2, Kemp, Perkins, McMillan).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 2:52 second.

Illegal defense: 1.

Phoenix 35 27 20 22 12 5 - 121

Seattle 30 24 31 19 12 14 - 130

A-17,072 (17,072). T-2:52.