Sonics Whip Nuggets Baker Leads Balanced Attack As Seattle Wins Fifth Straight

Vin Baker has empathy for the Denver Nuggets. He knows how much losing hurts. Right now he’s savoring his first experience on a winner.

“I know what they’re going through,” Baker said. “Now I’m adjusting to the expectations of playing on a winning team.”

Baker had 18 points and 10 rebounds as the Seattle SuperSonics defeated the Nuggets 119-106 Thursday night for their fifth straight victory.

Before his trade to the Sonics on Sept. 25, Baker played with the Milwaukee Bucks his first four seasons and they never won more than 34 games. He has not played a playoff game.

“When you’re on a winner, there are no insignificant games,” Baker said. “Wins now are going to be important when it comes to homecourt advantage in the playoffs.”

The Sonics didn’t have the homecourt advantage and were defeated by the Houston Rockets 4-3 in the 1997 Western Conference semifinals.

Six Sonics scored in double figures, helping Seattle win its 11th consecutive home game and improve its record to an NBA-best 20-5.

The Nuggets remained the only winless road team in the NBA, dropping to 0-13 with their sixth straight loss overall. Eric Washington led the Nuggets with 18 points and Danny Fortson added 14.

Detlef Schrempf and Gary Payton added 16 points each for the Sonics, who matched their highest-scoring game of the season.

The Sonics are in the midst of a stretch of playing seven sub-.500 teams in eight games. They know it’s a chance to build on their Pacific Division lead over the second-place Los Angeles Lakers.

“This is the time for us to work on our execution because we’re going to see a lot of those top-ranked teams in January,” Payton said.

The Sonics starters also got plenty of rest as only Baker played more than 30 minutes.

The Nuggets lost despite their highest point total of the season. Bobby Jackson had 13 points, six rebounds and seven assists but was 6 for 20 from the field.

The Sonics outscored the Nuggets 29-19 in the third period in taking an 89-69 lead. Schrempf had nine of his points in the quarter.

Two free throws by LaPhonso Ellis and his jumper pulled the Nuggets within 66-63 with 6:03 left in the quarter.

The Sonics came back with nine straight points. Payton scored on a drive, Schrempf fed Sam Perkins for a 3-point shot and Schrempf added a layup and two more free throws.

Nuggets coach Bill Hanzlik said the Sonics defense was decisive.

“We were competing with them on both ends. Then they increased their defensive pressure and we didn’t recover,” he said.

LaPhonso Ellis, who was on the Denver team that upset the Sonics in the 1994 playoffs, was also impressed by Seattle.

“They press you and maintain it. You have to attack the basket against them and we didn’t,” he said.

Hersey Hawkins had 14 points, including 2 for 4 from 3-point range, and Dale Ellis scored 13.

SuperSonics 119, Nuggets 106

FG FT Reb DENVER Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Battie 20 4-6 3-5 0-6 1 6 11 L.Ellis 26 4-8 5-6 3-8 5 2 13 Garrett 32 4-7 1-2 2-6 0 1 9 Jackson 34 6-20 0-0 2-6 7 3 13 Washington 32 7-12 3-5 2-4 0 2 18 Goldwire 23 0-1 4-4 0-1 3 2 4 Newman 24 2-7 4-6 1-2 1 4 8 Fortson 30 5-8 4-8 2-5 1 4 14 Lauderdale 7 0-2 1-2 1-4 1 3 1 Garris 7 2-3 3-4 1-2 1 1 7 H.Ellis 5 2-2 4-4 0-0 0 2 8 Totals 240 36-76 32-46 14-44 20 30 106

Percentages: FG .474, FT .696.

3-Point Goals: 2-10, .200 (Jackson 1-3, Washington 1-3, L.Ellis 0-2, Newman 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 8 Blocked shots: 1 (Garrett).

Turnovers: 16 (Jackson 3, Newman 3, Battie 2, L.Ellis 2, Washington 2, Fortson 2, Garrett, Goldwire).

Steals: 10 (Battie 3, Goldwire 3, Garrett, Jackson, Washington, H.Ellis).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense 8:29, third.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Baker 35 9-14 0-1 3-10 2 4 18 Schrempf 30 3-9 10-12 0-6 5 1 16 McIlvaine 14 0-2 0-0 2-4 0 5 0 Hawkins 24 6-11 1-1 1-4 2 3 15 Payton 28 5-9 5-8 1-4 8 4 16 D.Ellis 24 6-10 1-2 1-2 1 1 15 Perkins 22 4-8 1-2 0-3 2 2 13 Williams 18 2-5 2-2 3-6 1 5 6 Wingate 15 2-3 2-2 2-3 2 3 6 Anthony 18 1-5 1-2 0-3 8 1 4 Cotton 7 2-4 2-2 1-1 0 2 6 Snow 5 2-3 0-1 0-0 1 4 4 Totals 240 42-83 25-35 14-46 32 35 119

Percentages: FG .506, FT .714.

3-Point Goals: 10-25, .400 (Perkins 4-8, D.Ellis 2-4, Hawkins 2-5, Anthony 1-3, Payton 1-4, Schrempf 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 8 Blocked shots: 3 (McIlvaine, Perkins, Cotton).

Turnovers: 17 (Wingate 3, Cotton 3, Payton 2, Schrempf 2, Snow 2, Baker, McIlvaine, Hawkins, Williams, Anthony).

Steals: 12 (Payton 3, Hawkins 2, Perkins 2, Baker, Schrempf, D.Ellis, Williams, Wingate).

Technical fouls: None.

Illegal defense: None.

Denver 24 26 19 37 - 106

Seattle 32 28 29 30 - 119

A-17,072 (17,072). T-2:13.