Sonics Pound Suns Schrempf, Hawkins Make Up For Kemp, Who Didn’t Start

The Seattle SuperSonics notched another win at home by zeroing in from behind the lines.

The Sonics (37-12) improved their home record to 22-2 Friday night by feasting on free throws in the first half and then bombing away from beyond the arc in the second half on the way to a 117-99 victory over Phoenix.

Seattle has won five straight and 11 of its last 12.

Detlef Schrempf and Hersey Hawkins scored 19 points apiece and Gary Payton added 18 points and 10 assists. Shawn Kemp didn’t start as a penalty for missing Thursday’s practice.

Seattle took a 56-49 halftime lead on the strength of 12-of-12 shooting from the free-throw line, compared to 1 of 2 in the first half for Phoenix. The Sonics put the game away by hitting eight 3-pointers in the second half while the Suns managed just three for the game.

Hawkins, Nate McMillan and Sam Perkins each connected on three of Seattle’s 10 3-pointers in the game.

“Whenever you hit your 3’s it’s discouraging to the other team,” Hawkins said. “We have so many good shooters that we’re going to keep on shooting until they go down.”

“We’re doing a better job now of spotting up and finding the open man,” Schrempf said.

The Sonics hit 8 of 16 from beyond the arc in the second half after hitting just 2 of 12 in first half.

“Their double-teams bothered us early, but as we played on we found more answers,” coach George Karl said. “We found more confidence as the shots started to fall.”

Charles Barkley had 27 points and 10 rebounds for the Suns. Elliot Perry scored 21 points for Phoenix and Danny Manning added 18.

Perry drew Phoenix within nine points twice in the last 4 minutes, the last on two free throws with 3:05 remaining, but Payton scored four points as Seattle outscored Phoenix 12-3 the rest of the way.

Nevertheless, Barkley was not impressed.

“I would look forward to playing them (the Sonics) in a seven-game or five-game series,” Barkley said. “I think they are very good, but they don’t strike fear in my heart.”

Schrempf scored five points as Seattle closed out the last 4 minutes of the first half with a 15-5 run, aided by three technical fouls on the Suns in the final 35.1 seconds.

Because of Seattle’s free-throw shooting edge, Phoenix trailed by seven at halftime despite shooting 61 percent from the field and outrebounding the Sonics 19-13.

The Sonics picked up where they left off after halftime, opening the third quarter with a 7-0 run that featured 3-pointers by Schrempf and Hawkins.

“At the beginning if third quarter they got the big lead and I don’t think we really put any pressure on them,” Barkley said.

“We played well in the first half, but we couldn’t get to the free-throw line,” Phoenix coach Cotton Fitzsimmons said, expressing surprise at Phoenix’s 22 free-throw opportunities after the Suns attempted 51 in their most recent meeting with Seattle on Tuesday night.

Notes

Kemp made his first appearance at 8:32 of the first quarter. … Seattle’s 37-12 record ties a team-best after 49 games, matching the mark set by the 1993-94 squad, which won a leaguehigh and franchise-best 63 games. … Barkley is one rebound away from becoming the 22nd player in NBA history to grab 10,000 in his career. xxxx
SuperSonics 117, Suns 99

FG FT Reb PHOENIX Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Barkley 43 10-15 6-8 1-10 6 1 27 Manning 28 7-19 4-4 2-4 2 5 18 Green 35 3-6 0-0 3-8 0 1 6 Finley 41 5-11 0-0 0-4 4 1 11 Perry 46 7-10 6-7 0-1 9 3 21 Person 25 1-5 2-3 0-3 1 3 4 Tisdale 19 5-7 0-0 1-3 3 4 10 Kleine 2 1-2 0-0 0-3 0 0 2 Carr 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 39-76 18-22 7-36 25 18 99

Percentages: FG .513, FT .818. 3-Point Goals: 3-8, .375 (Barkley 1-2, Finley 1-2, Perry 1-2, Person 0-1, Carr 0-1). Team Rebounds: 6 Blocked shots: 1 (Manning). Turnovers: 17 (Perry 6, Barkley 3, Manning 3, Finley 2, Green, Tisdale, Team). Steals: 10 (Perry 4, Finley 2, Barkley, Manning, Green, Person). Technical fouls: Coach Fitzsimmons, :35.1 second; Barkley, :30.8 second; delay of game, :01.3 second; Illegal defense, 11:25 third. Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts McMillan 26 4-7 2-2 0-4 4 1 13 Schrempf 37 8-11 2-5 1-8 6 4 19 Johnson 18 4-4 0-0 1-6 0 0 8 Hawkins 34 6-11 4-4 0-1 6 3 19 Payton 39 7-19 4-4 0-2 10 4 18 Kemp 36 3-5 7-8 1-6 5 4 13 Askew 24 4-6 2-2 1-4 0 5 10 Perkins 21 4-9 2-2 0-1 1 1 13 Wingate 2 2-2 0-0 0-1 0 0 4 Snow 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Ford 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 42-76 23-27 4-33 33 22 117

Percentages: FG .553, FT .852. 3-Point Goals: 10-28, .357 (McMillan 3-6, Hawkins 3-6, Perkins 3-6, Schrempf 1-2, Snow 0-1, Ford 0-1, Payton 0-6). Team Rebounds: 4 Blocked shots: 3 (Johnson 2, Kemp). Turnovers: 14 (Kemp 5, Schrempf 2, Payton 2, McMillan, Hawkins, Askew, Snow). Steals: 8 (McMillan 2, Schrempf 2, payton 2, Kemp, Perkins). Technical foul: Illegal defense, 6:21 fourth. Illegal defense: 1. Phoenix 24252624- 99 Seattle 23332734- 117 A-17,072 (17,072). T-2:13. Officials-Dan Crawford, Bob Delaney, Mike Callahan.