Sonics Reclaim First Payton’s Clinching Free Throws Lift Seattle To Fifth Consecutive Win

George Karl was hoping for a close one.

He almost got more than he wished for as his Seattle SuperSonics won their fifth straight Thursday night, beating the San Antonio Spurs 94-86.

“You can’t build up confidence in pressure situations unless you’re in a pressure situation,” Karl said.

The Spurs put the Sonics into a pressure cooker by trimming a 13-point lead to 73-71 on Vernon Maxwell’s basket with 8:36 left. The Sonics responded down the stretch by scoring 21 of the final 36 points.

The victory moved the Sonics back into first place in the Pacific Division ahead of the idle Los Angeles Lakers.

Gary Payton scored 20 points and made two clinching free throws with 51 seconds left. Shawn Kemp also scored 20 points and added 11 rebounds for Seattle.

The Sonics went on a 7-0 run for an 82-72 lead, highlighted by Sam Perkins’ 3-point shot.

“Any time you hit a 3-pointer when a team is making a run, it’s a momentum changer,” Perkins said.

Wilkins and Sean Elliott led the Spurs with 17 points each. Wilkins wowed everyone in the building with a thunderous dunk with 4:51 left in the game.

The Sonics had five players score in double figures. Hersey Hawkins shot 3 for 3 on 3-pointers and scored 18 points and Perkins was 4 for 5 on 3s and scored 16 points.

“Those guys are good,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “You make mistakes against the Western Conference champions and they’ll beat you.”

Notes

The attendance was only 9,036 because of a snowstorm that dumped about 6 inches in the Seattle area. There were more than 8,000 no-shows… . Spurs center David Robinson has missed more games this season (19) than he had in his previous seven seasons combined… . The Sonics placed Steve Scheffler on the injured list with plantar fasciatis of the right foot. He has missed 24 games this season because of that injury. The Sonics activated Antonio Harvey, who has appeared in five games and averaged 3.0 points per game.

SuperSonics 94, Spurs 86

FG FT Reb S. ANTONIO Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Elliott 34 5-8 7-7 0-2 6 2 17 Herrera 21 4-6 2-2 1-2 0 5 10 Perdue 29 2-3 0-0 1-6 0 2 4 Del Negro 21 5-7 0-0 0-2 1 0 10 Johnson 32 1-7 0-0 0-2 6 5 2 Wilkins 32 8-15 1-1 1-7 3 2 17 Alexander 16 1-6 1-2 0-2 2 1 3 Anderson 14 0-1 0-0 1-3 1 2 0 Williams 14 2-6 5-6 1-2 0 0 9 Maxwell 27 5-9 2-2 0-1 0 5 14 Totals 240 33-68 18-20 5-29 19 24 86 Percentages: FG .485, FT .900.

3-Point Goals: 2-14, .143 (Maxwell 2-4, Elliott 0-1, Wilkins 0-4, Alexander 0-5).

Team Rebounds: 5.

Blocked shots: 4 (Perdue 2, Elliott, Williams).

Turnovers: 14 (Maxwell 4, Herrera 2, Johnson 2, Anderson 2, Elliott, Del Negro, Alexander, Williams).

Steals: 6 (Williams 2, Elliott, Herrera, Perdue, Johnson).

Technical fouls: illegal defense, 10:14 second; Williams, 9:23 fourth.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 38 8-12 4-8 4-11 1 4 20 Schrempf 38 3-12 6-7 1-6 7 2 14 McIlvaine 20 1-2 0-0 0-3 0 3 2 Hawkins 36 5-9 5-5 1-4 3 0 18 Payton 43 8-19 4-6 3-5 5 3 20 Ehlo 19 0-3 0-0 0-3 3 2 0 Perkins 27 6-10 0-0 3-4 2 2 16 Snow 19 2-4 0-0 0-2 3 1 4 Totals 240 33-71 19-26 12-38 24 17 94 Percentages: FG .465, FT .731.

3-Point Goals: 9-19, .474 (Perkins 4-5, Hawkins 3-3, Schrempf 2-4, Ehlo 0-3, Payton 0-4).

Team Rebounds: 10.

Blocked shots: 1 (Perkins).

Turnovers: 18 (Kemp 4, Snow 3, Schrempf 2, Hawkins 2, Payton 2, Ehlo 2, McIlvaine, Perkins, team).

Steals: 6 (Hawkins 3, Schrempf, McIlvaine, Snow).

Technical fouls: Payton, 9:23 fourth; Kemp, 4:16 fourth.

Illegal defense: None. San Antonio 22 20 20 24 - 86 Seattle 29 23 19 23 - 94 A-17,072 (17,072). T-2:08.