Sonics Square Series Seattle Nips Houston With Hard-Hat Effort

It’s not an easy way these Seattle SuperSonics do things, despite the relative simplicity of a Shawn Kemp dunk or a Sam Perkins 3-pointer.

At its best, this is a team that grunts and grinds its way to victories, that makes every possession as pleasant as a Stephen King all-night filmathon.

And this team is at its best, it seems, when it has to be, when losing no longer seems an option, as it was in rallying from a 2-1 deficit to win its first-round series with Phoenix.

If the Sonics want to win this best-of-7 Western Conference semifinal series against the Houston Rockets, they realistically needed a split of these first two games, and they got it Wednesday night by getting down in the trenches for a 106-101 win in front of a subdued 16,285 at The Summit.

The Sonics did it by stretching their defense and shortening their bench. By running the length of the court on offense and the width of it on defense, finishing with 21 fastbreak points to Houston’s eight, and coming up with 15 steals among Houston’s 20 turnovers.

“This was a man’s win,” Sonics coach George Karl said after the Sonics tied the series at 1 with Game 3 set for 7:30 p.m. Friday at KeyArena. “Our guys just dug in and made some defensive stops. All we did was get homecourt advantage. Now we have two huge games in Seattle.”

And it took only seven good men for the Sonics to do it, including Perkins, who started in place of Terry Cummings at center in part because he has a history of causing Houston center Hakeem Olajuwon problems on both ends of the court.

But this was a team effort. Hersey Hawkins’ 21 points and six steals were indicative of the way the Sonics played pressure defense on the perimeter. Kemp had 22 points and 15 rebounds, none of which was bigger than the rebound putback of a Gary Payton air ball, and subsequent free throw that put Seattle up 96-90 with 2:05 left.

That play helped the Sonics repel a Houston rally from a 21-point third-quarter deficit to cut Seattle’s lead to two with 4:04 left at 90-88.

“You knew they would make a run,” Karl said. “It got scary there. But we had a little more gas than they did.”

Seattle had a lot more in the second quarter, when it turned a five-point deficit into an 18-point lead that essentially decided the game.

During a 31-8 run, the Sonics held the Rockets to 3-of-14 shooting and had five steals. The Sonics scored 12 of their points on fastbreaks.

“We were more physical and more aggressive tonight (than in a 112-102 loss in Game 1 on Monday),” Kemp said. “You can’t react to a team.”

Houston had won Game 1 by hitting 15 of 28 3-pointers when the Sonics were lazy getting out on outside shooters. But this time, the Sonics didn’t double-team as much, and they picked their spots judiciously, never leaving guys like Mario Elie and Matt Maloney, who had combined for nine 3-pointers in Game 1, open for long. Those two hit only three 3-pointers in Game 2.

“Our big emphasis was pressure and running,” Karl said. “Not gambling, but pressure. We wanted to make things as uncomfortable for them as we could make it.”

Said Hawkins: “We were playing the passing lanes and being aggressive on our traps and that led to a lot of steals.”

It was during that run that the first cracks in Houston’s previously uncrackable veneer began to show.

Olajuwon and Charles Barkley were each called for technicals as the Rockets began to spend more time complaining about calls than trying to figure out Seattle’s defense.

SuperSonics 106, Rockets 101

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Schrempf 42 4-7 9-10 2-6 2 1 17 Kemp 39 7-12 8-9 5-15 3 5 22 Perkins 30 5-11 4-4 0-2 0 4 18 Hawkins 40 6-13 6-6 3-6 5 2 21 Payton 47 6-20 4-4 0-2 9 3 17 Cummings 27 3-8 0-0 1-4 2 4 6 Wingate 15 2-5 0-0 3-5 0 5 5 Totals 240 33-76 31-33 14-40 21 24 106 Percentages: FG .434, FT .939.

3-Point Goals: 9-27, .333 (Perkins 4-9, Hawkins 3-6, Wingate 1-3, Payton 1-7, Schrempf 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 5.

Blocked shots: 4 (Kemp, Perkins, Hawkins, Payton).

Turnovers: 17 (Kemp 6, Payton 4, Schrempf 2, Hawkins 2, Wingate 2, Perkins) Steals: 15 (Hawkins 6, Payton 3, Schrempf 2, Kemp, Perkins, Cummings, Wingate).

Technical foul: Kemp, 6:52 first. Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb HOUSTON Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Elie 35 2-4 2-5 2-3 3 6 8 Barkley 36 6-14 7-8 5-7 3 3 21 Olajuwon 40 7-15 5-6 4-12 2 4 19 Drexler 42 10-16 2-3 1-7 8 5 25 Maloney 22 2-8 0-0 0-0 2 2 5 Willis 20 6-9 0-2 3-5 0 1 12 Threatt 27 1-5 0-2 1-5 6 4 3 Johnson 18 1-6 6-6 0-2 1 0 8 Totals 240 35-77 22-32 16-41 25 25 101 Percentages: FG .455, FT .688.

3-Point Goals: 9-27, .333 (Drexler 3-6, Elie 2-3, Barkley 2-4, Threatt 1-5, Maloney 1-7, Johnson 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 11.

Blocked shots: 4 (Drexler 2, Barkley, Threatt).

Turnovers: 20 (Elie 6, Olajuwon 4, Maloney 4, Drexler 3, Willis, Threatt, team).

Steals: 10 (Elie 3, Drexler 2, Willis 2, Barkley, Olajuwon, Johnson).

Technical fouls: Barkley, 1:31 second; Olajuwon, :42 second.

Illegal defense: None.

Seattle 32 33 17 24 - 106

Houston 30 17 23 31 - 101

A-16,285 (16,285). T-2:30.