Payton Lifts Sonics Past Rockets - Again Seattle’s Ninth Straight Victory Over Houston Clinches Best Record In The West For Playoffs

It’s rare for an individual to take over an NBA game on the offensive end, much less on defense. And less than a handful of non-shot blocking defenders can alter the course of a close game.

Yet once again Monday, Seattle SuperSonics point guard Gary Payton proved he’s one of the select few who can steal a victory.

Against two-time defending NBA champion Houston, “The Glove” made his case three times late in a 112-106 win, the Sonics’ ninth straight victory over the Rockets.

He made three of the Sonics’ five steals in the final 77 seconds to help the Pacific Division champions clinch the best record in the Western Conference and the No. 1 seed, which guarantees home-court advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs.

Despite leading the league in steals with a career-record 223, Payton is a long shot for the league’s Defensive Player of the Year Award because he doesn’t block shots, play in a major media market, or smile.

He won’t even lend his infamous gift of gab to the cause.

“I’m not worried about that,” he said. “I don’t think about it. I don’t look forward to it. I stopped looking forward to awards four years ago for a lot of reasons I can’t go into.”

Fortunately for his campaign boosters, the highlight film speaks volumes.

With the Sonics clinging to a 106-104 lead and The Summit crowd of 16,285 roaring, Payton stepped into the passing lane and batted down a pass intended for All-Star center Hakeem Olajuwon.

Outracing a pack of Rockets, he scooped up the ball and banked in a layup despite Robert Horry’s smothering defense, for a four-point lead with 1:13 to go.

Following a timeout, Olajuwon spun toward the baseline and Sonics center Sam Perkins cut him off, prompting “The Dream” to flick a pass toward the middle of the key. Payton snared it.

Moments after Payton missed a layin, Detlef Schrempf intercepted a 30-foot outlet pass by Olajuwon and was fouled. His free throws sealed it for the Sonics, 110-104 with 32 seconds left.

As if he hadn’t already proved his ownership of the quickest hands on the court, Payton stripped a dribble from Sam Cassell with 28 seconds to go and converted the layin for a game-high 31 points and a 112-104 advantage.

“Woo, he was unbelievable,” Sonics coach George Karl said. “I haven’t seen anything like that in a long time.”

It was the fourth time this season Payton has made steals to wrap up Sonics’ victories. Earlier, he stripped Chicago’s Michael Jordan as he drove the lane for a potential game-winning shot and swiped dribbles from Kendall Gill and Mitch Richmond as they prepared to lift off for potential gamewinning jumpers.

As with those sleight-of-hand heroics, Payton was at a loss to explain what teammate David Wingate called: “Being in the right place at the right time.”

“I can’t tell you how I do it,” he said. “I was just rotating on defense and then getting my hands on the ball. I don’t have special techniques. There’s not any voodoo going on.”

The rest of the league might see it as voodoo, given the hexing properties that have enabled the Sonics (62-17) to lead the league in steals for four consecutive seasons. But essentially it’s team defensive concepts that force mistakes and enable quick-handed and quick-footed players such as Payton and Nate McMillan, who made three steals, to scoop up errant passes and dribbles.

All of Payton’s and McMillan’s steals were made possible by the other three Sonics on the court, who played aggressive man-to-man defense until the Rockets passed into Olajuwon. Then, they double-teammed Olajuwon and when he passed to open teammates, they made quick recoveries to defend perimeter jumpers.

Until they connected on a trio of 3-pointers in the first 3 minutes of the fourth quarter, the Rockets missed 14 of 21 3’s and finished at 32.1 percent beyond the arc (9 for 28).

“When we’re all rotating like that it creates those plays,” McMillan said. “When we’re aggressive and concentrating, making the right reads we can cause people some problems. But it takes five guys.”

Counting substitutions, it took nine, including a trio on Olajuwon, who didn’t have a major impact despite scoring 25 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.

Ervin Johnson had first crack on the former NBA Most Valuable Player, followed by Perkins, Frank Brickowski, then Perkins.

“When we doubled him aggressively he had a hard time passing out to their shooters,” Perkins said.

Sonics power forward Shawn Kemp also has that problem when he’s double-teammed, but in a return to form, he made four assists in that manner against the Rockets and scored 27 points with 10 rebounds in an encouraging sign for the upcoming playoffs.

“I’m starting to feel good,” Kemp said. “And staying out of foul trouble is always good.”

Playing the Rockets is good for the Sonics, too, after all this was their ninth consecutive victory. But Kemp and his teammates wouldn’t entertain the Houston media with talk of a possible second-round playoff meeting.

SuperSonics 112, Rockets 106

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Schrempf 37 5-12 4-4 0-3 3 4 15 Kemp 37 9-14 9-11 3-10 4 2 27 Johnson 16 1-1 0-0 0-3 1 3 2 Hawkins 37 7-15 4-4 1-4 4 2 19 Payton 38 12-21 4-5 1-2 9 1 31 Perkins 28 5-8 0-0 1-2 2 2 13 Askew 10 0-3 0-0 0-1 1 2 0 McMillan 21 2-4 0-0 0-3 1 0 5 Brickowski 16 0-1 0-0 1-4 2 5 0 Totals 240 41-79 21-24 7-32 27 21 112

Percentages: FG .519, FT .875.

3-Point Goals: 9-21, .429 (Perkins 3-4, Payton 3-6, McMillan 1-2, Hawkins 1-3, Schrempf 1-4, Askew 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 7.

Blocked shots: 7 (Kemp 3, Johnson 2, Perkins, McMillan).

Turnovers: 15 (Schrempf 5, Kemp 3, Johnson 2, Hawkins 2, Payton, Askew, McMillan).

Steals: 14 (Payton 6, McMillan 3, Schrempf, Kemp, Johnson, Hawkins, Perkins).

Technical fouls: None.

Illegal defense: None.

FG FT Reb HOUSTON Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Horry 29 1-3 0-0 1-8 5 3 3 Brown 13 2-5 0-0 0-0 0 4 4 Olajuwon 40 10-15 5-7 3-12 5 5 25 Drexler 37 9-17 6-6 1-3 3 4 26 Smith 33 5-14 2-2 0-0 3 1 15 Elie 23 2-6 0-0 0-3 4 1 4 Cassell 30 7-10 6-6 0-2 1 4 23 Bryant 25 2-3 1-2 1-1 2 2 5 Chilcutt 6 0-0 1-2 0-4 1 0 1 Mack 4 0-3 0-0 0-1 1 1 0 Totals 240 38-76 21-25 6-34 25 25 106

Percentages: FG .500, FT .840.

3-Point Goals: 9-28, .321 (Cassell 3-5, Smith 3-9, Drexler 2-6, Horry 1-3, Elie 0-2, Mack 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 10.

Blocked shots: 4 (Olajuwon 2, Chilcutt 2).

Turnovers: 19 (Olajuwon 5, Smith 3, Cassell 3, Drexler 2, Elie 2, Bryant 2, Horry, team).

Steals: 7 (Horry 3, Drexler 3, Olajuwon).

Technical fouls: None.

Illegal defense: None.

Seattle 28 28 27 29 - 112 Houston 22 31 27 26 - 106

A-16,285 (16,285). T-2:16.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Theresa Smith Tacoma News Tribune