Sonics, Kemp Rattle The Kings Backboard-Shaking Dunks Punctuate Seattle’s 110-94 Win

Shawn Kemp’s 16-point first quarter revived a Seattle SuperSonics offense that had been struggling this season.

Kemp finished with 31 points on 13-of-16 shooting and Seattle never trailed after the first 6 minutes in a 110-94 win Monday night over the Sacramento Kings.

The Sonics hit five 3-pointers in the second half to regain control whenever the Kings seemed to be building momentum.

“I remember two or three times when they were starting to make a run and we made a big basket,” said Hersey Hawkins, who had 19 points - including three 3-pointers - for the Sonics.

Seattle entered the game shooting just 43 percent and hitting 28 percent of its 3-pointers. The Sonics shot 60 percent Monday night, including 40 percent from behind the 3-point line.

“It’s the best offense we’ve played all year,” said Sonics coach George Karl.

Gary Payton added 21 points, nine assists and four steals for Seattle.

Mitch Richmond led the Kings with 28 points. Michael Smith had 15 and a career-high 17 rebounds

“You can’t play fair to average and beat an excellent basketball team,” said Kings coach Garry St. Jean. “Every time we made a run, they took care of business.”

Forward Brian Grant missed the game for Sacramento with a strained right shoulder that bothered him throughout training camp. His absence forced the Kings to move Olden Polynice to power forward and start Duane Causwell in Polynice’s place at center.

Kemp overwhelmed Causwell in the opening quarter with three backboard-shaking dunks among his eight baskets. Kemp added eight more points in the second period as the Sonics took a 55-44 halftime lead.

Seattle built an 18-point lead midway through the third period. The Kings closed to 76-66 with less than 2 minutes left in the period, but Sam Perkins and Craig Ehlo hit 3-pointers and Kemp dunked on an alley-oop as the Sonics took an 84-68 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Kings scored two quick baskets to open the final period, but Perkins hit another 3 and the Sonics increased their margin to 21 points. The Kings later got the deficit down to 12 points with an 11-0 run, but Hawkins hit a 3 and the Sonics were not threatened again.

Notes

Kemp’s 31 points were the most scored by a Sonics player this season. … The Sonics have won 38 of their 50 regular-season games against Sacramento since the 1985-86 season. … Richmond moved past Wayne Embry into eighth place on the KingsRoyals career scoring list. Richmond, who has 8,487 points in his six seasons with the Kings, is third on the franchise list with an average of 22.8 points per game. He passed Embry in total points on a layup with 3:24 left in the game. … The Kings play 10 of their next 12 games on the road.

SuperSonics 110, Kings 94

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Schrempf 40 5-11 2-4 2-7 2 3 12 Kemp 40 13-16 5-7 0-9 4 2 31 McIlvaine 22 2-2 0-0 1-2 0 2 4 Hawkins 29 6-10 4-4 1-4 4 1 19 Payton 37 9-17 3-4 0-3 9 2 21 Perkins 24 3-6 2-3 2-4 4 3 10 Ehlo 21 3-6 0-0 1-6 0 3 7 Snow 17 2-4 0-0 0-1 6 4 4 Wingate 9 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 Stewart 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 44-73 16-22 7-36 30 21 110 Percentages: FG .603, FT .727.

3-Point Goals: 6-15, .400 (Hawkins 3-5, Perkins 2-4, Ehlo 1-2, Schrempf 0-2, Payton 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 6.

Blocked shots: 3 (McIlvaine 2, Kemp).

Turnovers: 17 (Kemp 4, Payton 4, Hawkins 2, Perkins 2, Snow 2, Schrempf McIlvaine, Ehlo).

Steals: 12 (Payton 4, Schrempf 2, Kemp 2, McIlvaine 2, Hawkins, Perkins).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 1:57 second.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb SACRAMENTO Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Owens 36 6-13 0-0 3-4 5 2 13 Polynice 30 2-6 0-2 0-1 0 3 4 Causwell 26 3-5 2-2 1-2 0 5 8 Richmond 36 10-18 6-7 0-4 5 1 28 Abdul-Rauf 30 3-8 1-1 0-1 4 2 7 Edney 16 3-6 2-2 0-0 2 0 8 M.Smith 29 7-13 1-5 7-17 3 1 15 Williamson 18 0-2 3-4 0-1 1 2 3 Simmons 18 2-8 2-2 0-2 3 1 8 Hurley 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Totals 240 36-79 17-25 11-32 24 17 94 Percentages: FG .456, FT .680.

3-Point Goals: 5-13, .350 (Simmons 2-4, Richmond 2-5, Owens 1-2, Causwell 0-1, Polynice 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 12.

Blocked shots: 5 (Causwell 3, M.Smith, Simmons).

Turnovers: 17 (Owens 4, M.Smith 3, Causwell 2, Edney 2, Simmons 2, Polynice, Richmond, Abdul-Rauf, Williamson).

Steals: 7 (Richmond 2, Abdul-Rauf 2, Causwell, M.Smith, Williamson).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 11:44 third; Illegal defense, 6;18 third.

Illegal defense: None.

Seattle 27 28 29 26 - 110

Sacramento 22 22 24 26 - 94

A-17,317 (17,317). T-2:04.

Officials-Hue Hollins, Bill Spooner, Tommie Wood.