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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

How Sweet It Is: But Bulls Could Sour The Feeling

John Blanchette The Spokesman-Re

Son of Refuse to Lose, it wasn’t. But “Refuse to Give People One More Reason to Dog Your Sorry Butt” is a tough fit on a bumper sticker.

So the Seattle SuperSonics were happy to beg, borrow and subpoena motivations of all sorts Sunday afternoon just to be rid of their crippling moonshadow. They trotted out TV stars and the Let’s-Get-Ready-to-Rumble guy and even video pep bites from the crosstown Mariners - every last bell and whistle to stir up the citizenry and, in turn, themselves.

Then Shawn Kemp’s free throws went in and Karl Malone’s quite conspicuously didn’t, and 17,000 raucous residents of KeyArena poured into the streets to rejoice in the Sonics’ 90-86 defeat - or do you call it a denotation? - of the Utah Jazz in Game 7 of the NBA’s Western Conference finals.

And to wallow in the just deserts. Which would be, uh, the Chicago Bulls.

Man, sometimes you have to know when to push yourself away from the table.

“I’m just so happy right now,” said a downright ebullient Sam Perkins, who normally has to be roused from a coma for quotes. “I don’t want to talk about anything unless it pertains to today. I’m going to enjoy this moment.”

Good choice.

Because once this moment’s over, no one will give the Sonics a chance - and that’s still a marked improvement over the past two seasons, when they blew their quota.

“Unless they win at least a game against the Bulls,” one fan in a Legalize Kemp T-shirt predicted to his buddy on their way out the door, “they won’t earn a lick of respect.”

Keep your licks to yourself, pal.

Curious, isn’t it? The Sonics have actually advanced one step beyond where the M’s ventured so unexpectedly last fall, yet the feeling is so contrary. The man on the street then even dared to suggest the Indians could be had. Now the man on the street isn’t sure the Sonics should show up.

Understandable. Indeed, even after sweating out an ill-considered prediction that there was no way the Jazz could win three in a row after the Sonics took a 3-1 lead in this series, it’s impossible to resist another. This time, it’s prudent to be more conservative.

The Bulls. In three.

Sorry.

No wonder Sonics coach George Karl, in his moment of triumph, was moved to go on NBC and declare, “A lot has been said in this city that’s not true.”

What he calls lies, we call history, but at least the Sonics revised theirs on Sunday.

This is no longer a gagster’s paradise.

“We’ve gone through so much what with losing the past two years and being criticized so much - we’ve overcome a lot of criticism,” said Kemp, who did the bulk of Sunday’s overcoming with 26 points and 14 rebounds. “We’ve handled it in a good way and I think we showed that today.”

All the rips and doubts the Sonics endured for their previous playoff failures came to a head after Thursday’s 35-point blowout loss at Utah in Game 6.

It used to be, only their heads were an issue. Over the weekend, the questions spread to their intestines - and their manhood.

They formed the answer on Sunday in a warriors’ game - the best the NBA has been able to muster this spring. Thank heavens, since this was the first series to reach seven games.

Hersey Hawkins, his defense all but mocked by Jeff Hornacek’s shooting all series, crawled under the Jazz sharpshooter’s skin and held him to a 3-of-10 afternoon. His next assignment: Michael Jordan.

“What can he do against me that he hasn’t already done against somebody else?” shrugged Hawkins, who did some damage on offense, too, with 14 points. “If he goes off for 60, well, he’s already done that - though I don’t need him going off for 60.”

While Hawkins erased Hornacek, a committee of Kemp, Perkins and Detlef Schrempf badgered Malone into an 8-for-22, five-rebound performance.

“The Mail,” one sign read, “Don’t Come on Sunday.”

“I picked a bad day,” said Malone, “to have a bad day.”

Aside from a few salvos from Utah’s remarkable bench, only John Stockton got off - a 9-of-15, 22-point, seven-assist, eight-rebound line he’d gladly trade for a best-of-nine series.

“I don’t think I can explain it - you almost have to live it,” said Stockton, the Spokane guard whose Jazz have now lost three conference finals in five years. “To put that much effort in, it’s difficult not to win. I can only imagine, but whoever loses the next one will probably feel even worse.”

He’d kill to find out, of course. The Sonics already have.

, DataTimes MEMO: You can contact John Blanchette by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5509.

This sidebar appeared with the story: SONICS VS. BULLS Wednesday: at Chicago, 6 p.m. (NBC) Friday: at Chicago, 6 p.m. (NBC) Sunday: at Seattle, 4:30 p.m. (NBC) June 12: at Seattle, 6 p.m. (NBC) June 14: at Seattle, 6 p.m. (NBC)* June 16: at Chicago, 4:30 p.m. (NBC)* June 19: at Chicago, 6 p.m. (NBC)* *-If necessary

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Blanchette The Spokesman-Review

You can contact John Blanchette by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5509.

This sidebar appeared with the story: SONICS VS. BULLS Wednesday: at Chicago, 6 p.m. (NBC) Friday: at Chicago, 6 p.m. (NBC) Sunday: at Seattle, 4:30 p.m. (NBC) June 12: at Seattle, 6 p.m. (NBC) June 14: at Seattle, 6 p.m. (NBC)* June 16: at Chicago, 4:30 p.m. (NBC)* June 19: at Chicago, 6 p.m. (NBC)* *-If necessary

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Blanchette The Spokesman-Review