Kings Are Sonics’ Latest Victims Payton, Schrempf Lead Seattle To Sixth Consecutive Victory

Led by Gary Payton and Detlef Schrempf, the Seattle SuperSonics are the third-highest scoring team in the NBA. They said defense triggered their scoring outburst in a 120-95 romp over the Sacramento Kings on Friday night.

“We’re playing well offensively but the defense is the key to this team,” Nate McMillan said.

The Sonics had 15 steals and scored 34 points off 20 Kings turnovers.

McMillan led the Sonics with five steals and three blocked shots. He also had five assists.

Sarunas Marciulionis came off the bench to get 15 points and six assists.

“Team defense is the key to this team’s success,” Marciulionis said.

He also said the Sonics stars are doing their job.

“Our leaders (Payton, Schrempf, Shawn Kemp) are playing real well,” he said.

Payton was 11 for 17 from the field and also had five assists and five rebounds. Schrempf made of 10 of 16 shots.

Kemp had 15 points and 12 rebounds. The Sonics outrebounded the Kings 45-32.

Sonics coach George Karl is pleased by the business-like approach of his team in the past three weeks. Seattle has won six straight and 11 of 12.

“I wouldn’t say we’re on a roll but we’re playing consistent,” he said. “I just hope we keep it up and continue doing good things into the playoffs.”

Fun times

Kendall Gill blew up at Karl on Wednesday night in the coach’s office at the Tacoma Dome, according to several team sources. Gill was said to be incensed at having played only 17 minutes against Minnesota, despite starting the game, and going scoreless for the first time in his basketball career.

After the incident in the coach’s office, three Sonics - Shawn Kemp, team co-captain Nate McMillan and Gary Payton - held a closed-door meeting with Karl regarding his treatment of Gill, the sources said.

Gill supposedly was fined $5,000 for the outburst.

SuperSonics 120, Kings 95

FG FT Reb SACRAMENTO Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Grant 42 10-12 1-2 2-5 4 4 21 Williams 26 3-10 5-7 1-6 1 3 12 Polynice 17 0-3 0-0 0-3 0 1 0 Richmond 31 6-16 1-1 2-2 5 3 13 Webb 28 4-8 7-7 0-1 1 4 17 Smith 26 3-7 2-6 1-11 0 3 8 Simmons 18 2-5 0-0 0-1 3 2 4 Brown 19 3-6 1-2 0-1 1 1 7 Causwell 11 1-2 3-5 1-1 0 2 5 Hurley 13 0-4 2-2 0-0 4 1 2 Turner 5 1-2 4-4 1-1 0 2 6 Lee 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 33-76 26-36 8-32 19 26 95

Percentages: FG .434, FT .722.

3-Point Goals: 3-19, .158, (Webb 2-3, Williams 1-5, Grant 0-1, Lee 0-1, Hurley 0-3, Richmond 0-6).

Team Rebounds: 15.

Blocked shots: 8 (Grant 3, Smith 2, Williams, Brown, Causwell).

Turnovers: 20 (Grant 3, Richmond 3, Webb 3, Simmons 2, Brown 2, Williams, Polynice, Causwell, Hurley, Turner, Lee, team).

Steals: 4 (Brown 3, Webb).

Technical fouls: Grant, 3:05 third.

Illegal defense: None.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 27 6-11 3-4 5-12 1 5 15 Schrempf 35 10-16 6-10 1-3 2 2 26 Johnson 26 2-3 0-0 1-8 1 4 4 McMillan 29 2-7 0-0 2-3 5 4 5 Payton 33 11-17 3-5 2-5 5 3 27 Gill 30 4-9 2-2 0-4 3 2 11 Perkins 25 2-5 8-8 1-6 2 1 13 Marciulionis 22 4-7 7-8 0-1 6 2 15 Scheffler 5 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 1 0 King 4 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 1 0 Wingfield 4 0-0 4-4 1-2 0 3 4 Totals 240 41-78 33-43 13-45 25 28 120

Percentages: FG .526, FT .767

3-Point Goals: 5-11, .455 (Payton 2-4, Gill 1-1, Perkins 1-2, McMillan 1-2, Schrempf 0-1, Marciulionis 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 8.

Blocked shots: 7 (McMillan 3, Schrempf, Johnson, Perkins, Marciulionis).

Turnovers: 12 (McMillan 3, Kemp 2, Johnson 2, Gill 2, Schrempf, Perkins, Marciulionis).

Steals: 15 (McMillan 5, Kemp 3, Schrempf, Payton, Gill, Perkins, Marciulionis, Scheffler, Wingfield).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 9:38 second; Illegal defense, 5:27 second; Payton, 4:18 second; Illegal defense, 10:59 third; Kemp, 7:54; Illegal defense 3:43 fourth.

Illegal defense: 1. Sacramento 17 27 29 22 - 95 Seattle 26 35 30 29 - 120

A-14,698 (16,296). T-2:14.

Officials-Paul Mihalak, Blane Reichelt, Ted Bernhardt.