Rockets Do A Number On Sonics Houston Dominates Boards, Crushes Seattle By 40 Points

The Seattle SuperSonics picked a bad time to come up with a clunker.

The Houston Rockets hauled down a season-high 65 rebounds and led by double-digits nearly the entire game in a 113-73 rout Sunday. The 40-point margin was the biggest ever for Houston over the Sonics, a team that has dominated them in recent years.

“This was a wonderful game,” said Houston’s Hakeem Olajuwon, one of seven Rockets in double figures. “I’m so happy we finally beat this team so convincingly.”

“It’s very frustrating to not make shots, it’s very frustrating to not get rebounds,” Seattle coach George Karl said. “There’s no rationalizing. We got whipped.”

With the Los Angeles Lakers beating Utah Sunday, the Sonics also jeopardized their hold on first place in the Pacific Division, which they now share with the Lakers.

Houston, Seattle and the Lakers all have 54-25 records.

The Rockets won the season series 3-1, giving them the home-court advantage in a playoff match-up with the Sonics if the teams finish with the same regular-season record. They hold the same edge over the Lakers, who also hold a tiebreaker advantage over the Sonics and they can win the division by winning their final three games.

“A loss like this, this time of the season, really hurts a lot,” said Shawn Kemp, who was hampered by early foul trouble and finished with only six points on 2-for-7 shooting in 26 minutes.

The Rockets, led by 20 points from Clyde Drexler and 17 points and 15 rebounds from Charles Barkley, shook off a lethargic loss Friday night at Utah and came out with playoff-like intensity. They outrebounded the Sonics 41-18 in the first half - with Barkley accounting for 13 - while building as much as a 20-point lead.

“The good job we did on the boards was a big key and we got a lot of second-shot opportunities,” Barkley said. “I think this is probably as well as we can play.”

The 65 Houston rebounds was the most surrendered this season by Seattle. Houston also attempted 39 3-pointers, the second-most in franchise history.

Seattle shot only 31.5 percent, and never led, finishing with their second-lowest point total of the season.

“I couldn’t be more pleased with the intensity,” Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said.

FG FT Reb SEA Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pt Wingate 21 4-9 0-0 1-3 1 1 8 Kemp 26 2-7 2-4 2-10 2 4 6 McIlvaine 21 3-7 0-2 4-8 0 1 6 Hawkins 32 2-11 2-2 1-3 3 0 6 Payton 37 8-20 2-2 1-4 4 1 22 McMillan 21 1-6 0-0 0-3 1 2 2 Perkins 23 2-7 1-1 2-2 0 4 5 Cummings 14 3-6 1-2 1-1 0 1 7 Stewart 24 3-10 2-2 4-8 0 3 8 Ehlo 13 1-7 0-0 1-1 2 1 2 Snow 8 0-2 1-2 1-2 3 2 1 Percentages: FG .315, FT .647.

3-Point Goals: 4-20, .200 (Payton 4-8, Wingate 0-1, Stewart 0-1, Snow 0-1, Perkins 0-2, Hawkins 0-2, Ehlo 0-2, McMillan 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 10.

Blocked shots: 2 (McIlvaine, Stewart).

Turnovers: 16 (Kemp 4, Stewart 4, Snow 3, McIlvaine, Hawkins, Payton, McMillan, Cummings).

Steals: 8 (Wingate 2, McMillan 2, Payton, Perkins, Ehlo, Snow).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 5:00 first; illegal defense, 2:08 second; illegal defense, 2:30 second; Cummings, 6:53 fourth.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb HOU Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pt Elie 33 3-7 5-7 1-7 13 3 12 Barkley 32 6-12 5-7 5-15 3 1 17 Olajuwon 27 5-10 0-0 0-7 1 4 10 Drexler 31 8-19 1-2 6-9 2 1 20 Maloney 29 5-13 1-1 0-2 1 0 15 Willis 20 3-8 3-4 6-10 2 4 9 Johnson 24 4-10 1-1 1-6 0 1 11 Threatt 21 4-9 0-0 1-5 3 3 10 Harrington 10 2-3 0-0 1-2 0 2 4 Livingston 7 1-1 0-0 0-0 6 0 2 Bullard 6 1-1 0-0 0-2 0 0 3 Percentages: FG .452, FT .727.

3-Point Goals: 13-39, .353 (Maloney 4-9, Drexler 3-9, Threatt 2-5, Johnson 2-8, Bullard 1-1, Elie 1-4, Barkley 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 6.

Blocked shots: 7 (Elie 2, Olajuwon 2, Barkley, Willis, Harrington).

Turnovers: 15 (Drexler 4, Olajuwon 2, Maloney 2, Johnson 2, Harrington 2, Elie, Willis, Threatt).

Steals: 7 (Elie 2, Threatt 2, Olajuwon, Willis, Livingston).

Technical fouls: Barkley, :24.2 second; Drexler, :17.0 second.

Illegal defense: 1.

Seattle 20 18 17 18 - 73

Houston 31 25 23 34 - 113

A-16,285 (16,285). T-2:17.

Officials-Hue Hollins, Greg Willard, Bill Spooner.