Sonics Bag Hefty Win Against Clips

The Seattle Sonics play almost as well as they talk trash.

The Sonics, who lead the NBA in steals, forced the Clippers into a season-high 25 turnovers and cruised to a 96-87 victory Saturday night before an announced crowd of 15,081 at the Pond of Anaheim.

The Sonics drew four technical fouls for arguing with the officials and guard Gary Payton was ejected after drawing his second technical with 30 seconds left in the game.

“There was a lot of arrogance out there on the basketball court tonight, and it wasn’t from the players or coaches,” said Sonic coach George Karl, who drew a second-quarter technical. “The arrogance … who likes being in an atmosphere of arrogance. I’ll probably get fined for saying this, but the refs thought they were gods out there refing the game.”

Hersey Hawkins and Payton each had 23 points as the Sonics recorded their 10th consecutive victory over the Clippers. Shawn Kemp had 16 points and 11 rebounds as Seattle won its fourth in a row overall.

Payton got a scare when he hit his head on the court after landing awkwardly with 30 seconds left. Payton, who was down for several minutes, received his second technical foul as he was being helped to his feet and glaring at the officials as he walked off.

Clipper center Brian Williams, who missed last Thursday’s one-point victory over Denver because of a strained left arch, limped off the court with 2:09 remaining after reinjuring his arch.”It was sore before the game but you’ve got to expect that,” Williams said. “But it cramped up on me at the end. I hope it’s just a cramp and not too bad.”

The Clippers, who trailed 84-72 in the fourth quarter, got back into the game with an 8-2 spurt. But the Sonics scored seven unanswered points to put it away.

With his father, former NBA great Rick Barry, who was doing TV commentary looking on, Clipper guard Brent Barry made seven of his first nine shots, including all three of his 3-pointers, as the Clippers took a 54-52 halftime lead.

Barry, who hit a last-second game-winning shot in Thursday night’s 94-93 victory over Denver, scored six consecutive points midway through the second quarter as the Clippers, who trailed 45-35 outscored Seattle, 11-0. The Clippers ended the second quarter with a 19-7 spurt.

Barry took only one shot in the second half, failing to score.

The Sonics, who’ve posted the NBA’s best-combined record over the last two seasons, are off to another good start, posting the best record in the Western Conference this season.

However, no matter what they accomplish during the regular season, the Sonics, who’ve been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the last two seasons, probably won’t get any respect until they can advance in the postseason.

“It’s humbling, it’s frustrating (and) it’s demoralizing,” Karl said. “But if you look at the playoff series we’ve had, we did not play badly.”

SuperSonics 96, Clippers 87

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts McMillan 25 2-7 2-2 1-5 3 2 7 Kemp 24 5-8 6-8 3-11 1 5 16 Johnson 22 2-3 1-2 2-5 1 1 5 Payton 39 10-22 2-2 0-1 8 1 23 Hawkins 33 8-11 3-4 2-5 2 3 23 Schrempf 24 1-6 0-0 1-4 2 1 2 Perkins 26 4-7 4-5 2-7 1 1 12 Askew 27 1-8 0-0 2-4 0 1 3 Brickowski 20 1-4 2-2 0-2 1 1 5 Totals 240 34-76 20-25 13-44 19 16 96

Percentages: FG .447, FT .800.

3-Point Goals: 8-19, .421 (Hawkins 4-5, McMillan 1-1. Askew 1-2, Brickowski 1-3, Payton 1-5, Perkins 0-1, Schrempf 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 7.

Blocked shots: 6 (Johnson 3, Kemp, Perkins, Askew).

Turnovers: 22 (Kemp 6, Schrempf 4, Payton 3, McMillan 2, Johnson 2, Perkins 2, Askew 2, Hawkins)

Steals: 14 (Hawkins 4, Schrempf 3, McMillan 2, Kemp 2, Johnson, Perkins, Askew).

Technical fouls: Payton, 7:27 first; Brickowski, 7:53 second; Coach Karl, 7:53 second; Payton,:30 fourth.

Flagrant fouls: None.

Ejection: Payton, :30 fourth.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb L.A. CLIPPERS Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Vaught 40 8-15 0-0 3-8 0 3 16 Rogers 34 3-10 2-4 1-5 3 3 9 Williams 19 1-4 2-2 0-5 0 4 4 Richardson 27 5-10 0-1 0-1 2 4 11 Barry 37 7-10 0-0 1-3 2 2 17 Harvey 8 0-4 0-0 0-3 1 1 0 Murray 19 0-6 1-1 1-5 0 1 1 Roberts 9 1-1 2-2 0-1 0 3 4 Dehere 29 5-9 6-10 2-3 3 1 18 Piatkowski 3 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 Outlaw 15 3-5 1-2 1-1 0 0 7 Totals 240 33-74 14-22 9-36 11 22 87

Percentages: FG .446, FT .636.

3-Point Goals: 7-18, .389 (Barry 3-3, Dehere 2-4, Richardson 1-4, Rogers 1-5, Murray 0-1, Outlaw 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 9.

Blocked shots: 6 (Williams 2, Murray 2, Roberts, Outlaw).

Turnovers: 25 (Richardson 5, Dehere 4, Vaught 3, Barry 3, Harvey 2, Murray 2, Piatkowski 2, Rogers, Williams, Roberts, Outlaw).

Steals: 15 (Rogers 4, Dehere 3, Vaught 2, Williams 2, Barry 2, Roberts, Outlaw).

Technical fouls: None.

Illegal defense: None. Seattle 29 23 27 17 - 96 L.A. Clippers 28 26 15 18 - 87

A-15,081 (18,211). T-2:05.

Officials-Ron Garretson, David Jones, Tim Donaghy.