Sonics Pile Up 126 Points Seattle Ups Average Margin Against Golden State To 30.3

Strange as it seemed afterward, George Karl actually said he was worried about the Warriors.

“I was nervous about this,” Karl said moments after the SuperSonics completed a 126-89 thrashing of Golden State on Tuesday night, completing a sweep of the four-game season series.

“I was nervous because you never know when they (the Warriors) are going to respond,” Karl said.

Karl’s case of nerves was probably gone 12 minutes into the game when the Sonics ended the first quarter with a 38-20 lead. It was 73-39 at halftime and 101-61 after three, leaving it up to reserves to complete Seattle’s season-high scoring effort.

“When we shoot and pass like this, we’re dominating against anybody,” Karl said.

Seattle’s domination of Golden State is approaching ludicrous proportions. The Sonics won all four games this season by an average of 30.3 points, they’ve won nine straight overall over the Warriors and seven straight on Golden State’s court.

“We weren’t trying to embarrass Golden State or run up the score,” Nate McMillan said. “We just have certain goals on this team, and one of them is to play as hard as you can every minute you’re in there. Don’t even think about the scoreboard.”

The Warriors lost for a season-high fifth straight game.

“We never did the things that we talked about in practice,” Warriors coach Rick Adelman said. “They had their way, and you can’t play a team as good as Seattle is and let them run free offensively.”

Payton went 9 for 12 from the field and added eight assists in 31 minutes. Shawn Kemp added 21 points and nine rebounds, and every Seattle bench player got at least 12 minutes of playing time.

The Warriors were paced by Joe Smith, who scored 18 points before fouling out early in the fourth quarter. Golden State had 19 assists to Seattle’s 38, with Warriors point guard Mark Price scoring five points without an assist in 29 minutes.

Seattle’s lead stretched as high as 42 points, 101-59, on a layup by Terry Cummings with 6 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Sonics scored a season-high 73 points in the first half and had a 12-0 run over the final 1:48 of the second quarter.

Notes

The Sonics are 20-3 against Golden State since 1991. … Ten different players contributed to Seattle’s 14 steals. The Sonics average an NBA-leading 11.5 steals per game. … Price, the NBA’s leading free-throw shooter at .915, missed a rare two straight attempts in the second quarter. SuperSonics 126, Warriors 89

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 34 9-12 3-3 4-9 5 5 21 Stewart 28 4-10 1-3 2-4 5 3 10 McIlvaine 24 1-4 2-2 2-7 0 4 4 Hawkins 27 6-10 2-3 1-3 3 1 17 Payton 31 9-12 4-6 2-6 8 1 23 McMillan 14 3-3 2-2 0-3 6 1 9 Perkins 13 4-7 1-1 1-4 3 2 11 Wingate 13 1-3 2-2 0-1 0 2 4 Cummings 16 5-6 0-0 0-1 0 0 10 Ehlo 11 1-6 2-2 2-2 3 4 5 Graham 14 1-6 1-2 0-0 0 3 3 Snow 15 3-6 2-2 0-3 5 3 9 Totals 240 47-85 22-28 14-43 38 29 126 Percentages: FG .553, FT .786.

3-Point Goals: 10-23, .435 (Hawkins 3-5, Perkins 2-3, McMillan 1-1, Snow 1-1, Stewart 1-2, Payton 1-2, Ehlo 1-3, McIlvaine 0-1, Wingate 0-2, Graham 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 7.

Blocked shots: 1 (Kemp).

Turnovers: 14 (Ehlo 3, Payton 2, Cummings 2, Kemp, Stewart, McIlvaine, Perkins, Graham, team 2).

Steals: 16 (Ehlo 3, Kemp 2, Stewart 2, Cummings 2, Snow 2, Hawkins, Payton. McMillan, Perkins, Graham).

Technical fouls: Stewart, 6:32 fourth; illegal defense, 5:06 fourth.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb GOLDEN STATE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Marshall 17 2-6 0-0 0-3 0 1 5 Smith 28 6-10 6-6 1-2 2 6 18 Spencer 27 6-7 1-3 2-6 0 5 13 Price 29 1-7 2-4 0-1 0 0 5 Sprewell 37 3-9 2-2 0-2 9 1 8 DeClercq 13 1-2 3-4 2-2 0 4 5 Mullin 26 3-7 3-4 0-5 2 2 10 Booker 17 2-4 2-2 1-3 3 0 7 Fuller 11 2-4 1-2 2-4 1 2 5 Burrell 14 2-5 1-2 1-2 1 2 5 Owes 12 1-4 1-4 2-3 1 1 3 Roe 9 2-5 1-1 0-1 0 3 5 Totals 240 31-70 23-34 11-34 19 27 89 Percentages: FG .443, FT .676.

3-Point Goals: 4-16, .250 (Marshall 1-2, Mullin 1-2, Booker 1-2, Price 1-4, Roe 0-1, Burrell 0-2, Sprewell 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 10.

Blocked shots: 7 (Marshall, Smith, Spencer, Sprewell, DeClercq, Booker, Owes).

Turnovers: 24 (Price 4, Smith 3, Sprewell 3, Booker 3, Burrell 3, Marshall 2, Roe 2, Spencer, DeClercq, Burrell, team).

Steals: 4 (Sprewell, Fuller, Burrell, Owes).

Technical fouls: None.

Illegal defense: None.

Seattle 38 35 28 25 - 126

Golden State 20 19 22 28 - 89

A-15,695 (18,500). T-2:03.