Again, Sonics Must Win Seattle Blasts Refs After It Falls In Ot

Maybe it was simply the frustration of seeing a game, and possibly the season, wash away after victory had seemed so tantalizingly and miraculously at hand.

But after losing a 110-106 overtime decision to the Houston Rockets in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals Sunday afternoon at KeyArena, the Seattle SuperSonics lashed out at the officiating. The Sonics, who fell down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series, were really steamed about a stream of calls they felt determined matters in the final 2 minutes of overtime.

“Give me what Houston had,” said Seattle coach George Karl. “It’s OK if they had one or two tough ones, but they didn’t have one or two tough ones. And we had to take four or five shots from the referees. I thought my team battled well. It hurt. It hurts when a team plays that well and for the game to be determined like that.”

The extra period was forced by perhaps the most memorable moment of the Sonics’ season when Hersey Hawkins drained a 3-pointer from the corner with 2.4 seconds left in regulation to cap an eight-point fourth-quarter rally.

Seattle looked to be in command when it led, 104-100, midway through the five-minute overtime period. Then things started to unravel.

The Sonics lost a possession on what they felt was a questionable 3-second call on Detlef Schrempf. Then Charles Barkley hit a jumper and was awarded a free throw after what appeared to be not much contact from Sam Perkins to make it 104-103 with 2:05 left.

With Seattle ahead, 106-105, with 57.6 seconds left, Perkins was called for his sixth foul of the game for charging into Hakeem Olajuwon. Houston then took the lead for good on Matt Maloney’s 3-pointer with 36.8 seconds left. Maloney finished with a team-high 26 points and hit on 8 of 13 from 3-point range.

The Sonics then missed two 3-point attempts, including David Wingate’s open look from the corner that clanged off the rim with four seconds left.

“He’s Hakeem and I’m Sam Perkins,” an angry Perkins said afterward. “I don’t care what anybody says. I don’t even have to see the replay. It was a bad call and I don’t care if I get fined or not.”

The Sonics also wondered about some calls on Shawn Kemp, who played only 28 minutes before fouling out. He was whistled for his sixth foul with 5:59 left, only 41 seconds after he had re-entered the game.

“That happens to us all the time,” said Sonics forward Detlef Schrempf. “We are used to it… . They protect other players, but they don’t protect Shawn Kemp.”

The Sonics’ complaints drew laughs in the Houston locker room as the Rockets pointed out that Seattle made 25-of-31 free throws to Houston’s 18-of-24, and that it was the Rockets called for four technical fouls to Seattle’s two.

“Is that a practical joke?,” asked Clyde Drexler.

Charles Barkley retorted even more strongly.

“I would not complain about the officiating unless I had on an ugly blue (Houston) uniform,” he said. “I’m serious. That ain’t right. That’s got to be a joke. That’s embarrassing.”

Game 5 is 4 p.m. Tuesday in Houston.

Rockets 110, Sonics 106 (OT)

FG FT Reb HOUSTON Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Barkley 39 9-19 7-10 7-15 2 3 26 Elie 48 4-10 2-2 1-7 1 4 12 Olajuwon 41 5-10 1-3 5-12 9 5 11 Drexler 46 5-19 3-3 2-6 4 5 16 Maloney 48 9-19 0-0 0-1 6 2 26 Willis 24 4-12 4-5 3-10 1 4 12 Threatt 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Johnson 13 3-5 1-1 1-1 0 0 7 Harrington 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 39-95 18-24 19-52 24 23 110 Percentages: FG .411, FT .750.

3-Point Goals: 14-30, .467 (Maloney 8-13, Drexler 3-8, Elie 2-3, Barkley 1-4, Willis 0-1, Threatt 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 10.

Blocked shots: 3 (Olajuwon 3).

Turnovers: 20 (Maloney 4, Drexler 4, Olajuwon 3, Barkley 2, Elie 2, Threatt 2, Willis, Harrington, team).

Steals: 11 (Elie 4, Drexler 4, Barkley 2, Olajuwon).

Technical fouls: Willis, 5:31 second; Coach Tomjanovich, :32.6 second; Olajuwon, :50.5 third; Johnson, 9:17 fourth.

Illegal defense: None.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 28 5-11 1-2 2-9 3 6 11 Schrempf 45 7-14 5-6 4-8 4 3 19 Perkins 39 2-9 7-7 3-5 1 6 13 Hawkins 43 6-12 3-4 2-3 2 1 17 Payton 48 9-22 8-8 2-6 11 0 27 Cummings 32 6-11 1-4 3-9 0 5 13 Wingate 18 2-6 0-0 1-6 0 1 4 Snow 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 3 1 0 McIlvaine 5 1-2 0-0 0-1 0 1 2 Totals 240 38-88 25-31 17-47 24 24 106 Percentages: FG .432, FT .806.

3-Point Goals: 5-19, .263 (Hawkins 2-4, Perkins 2-7, Payton 1-5, Wingate 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 9.

Blocked shots: 4 (Hawkins 2, Perkins, Payton).

Turnovers: 18 (Payton 5, Perkins 4, Kemp 3, Cummings 2, Wingate 2, Schrempf, Hawkins).

Steals: 13 (Hawkins 5, Payton 3, Perkins 3, Kemp, Snow).

Technical fouls: Coach Karl, 7:36 second; Cummings, 9:17 fourth.

Illegal defense: 1.

Houston 23 24 27 24 12 - 110

Seattle 25 28 24 21 8 - 106

A-17,072 (17,072). T-2:56.