After Two Days Off, Jazz Put Sonics To Rest

After his Jazz lost a heartbreaker to Orlando on Friday and a head-banger to the Clippers on Saturday, Utah coach Jerry Sloan knew just what his club needed: Rest.

The Jazz took two days off, then came out and extinguished the red-hot SuperSonics 114-92 Tuesday night, snapping Seattle’s seven-game winning streak.

Karl Malone led the way with 31 points and 17 rebounds. Antoine Carr and Jeff Hornacek each scored 20 points.

“I think these guys needed a rest,” said Sloan, whose club had played seven games in 10 nights from March 22 through the 31st, ending with an embarrassing and painful 116-98 loss to the Clippers. Utah was 4-3 in that stretch.

“I think they got a chance to think about basketball a little bit away from it,” Sloan added. “Sometimes when you are with it all the time, you can’t see anything.”

Gary Payton led Seattle with 26 points. Shawn Kemp added 15, but made just 6 of 15 field-goal attempts.

The Sonics shot 40.2 percent (35 for 87) for the game.

“Utah beat us, spanked us, kicked our butts, and they’ve been doing that to a lot of teams,” said Seattle coach George Karl, whose team dropped one-half game behind Utah to third in the Western Conference playoff race. “We didn’t rise to the challenge of a big game.”

Hornacek scored 12 and Malone 10 in the first quarter as the Jazz led 37-17. Seattle charged back with a 14-6 run to start the second quarter and pulled to 43-31 with 8:07 left in the first half.

However, Utah scored the next 12 points, seven by Malone, to lead 55-31 with 4:35 left in the half.

The Jazz led 65-44 at intermission. Though the Sonics started the second half with a 9-2 run to come within 67-53, they could not come closer.

“For not practicing for a couple of days, we played pretty well,” said Malone, who had 12 rebounds by halftime and made 11 of 13 field-goal attempts for the game. “We defended first of all and we were able to rebound and we shot the ball very well.”

Indeed, the Jazz made 44 of 77 field-goal attempts (57.1 percent). Carr was 9 for 10 and Hornacek 7 for 11.

In contrast, Sarunas Marciulionis was 4 for 10, Sam Perkins 3 for 10 and Detlef Schrempf was 2 for 12, and the Sonics were outrebounded by the Jazz 55-41.

Karl defends mentor

Karl carried his antagonism toward the media to another level last Sunday.

Not only was he despondent about his alma mater North Carolina losing to Arkansas Saturday in the NCAA semifinals, he was furious with the treatment Carolina coach Dean Smith received by the media for the Tar Heels’ tactics in the final minute of play in a one-point game.

“It was tough to see,” Karl said. “They could have won. The whole situation is terrible in basketball. They (the media) criticize the best coach in basketball. Why do you foul? They weren’t prepared. If there is a genius in basketball, he is a genius.”

Notes

Sonics president Wally Walker joined the team at halftime, and said he has no idea on the timetable of Gill’s return. “The time will be dictated by the doctors and what his people think,” Walker said. “It’s a tough deal for the team.” …

The Sonics were 23-5 against the Eastern Conference, against whom they are finished, compared to 28-16 against the Western Conference… .

Vincent Askew, out since the San Antonio game with an inflamed left plantar fasciaitis (heel), is expected to scrimmage fullcourt with the team for the first time today… .

Nate McMillan started at shooting guard, but Sarunas Marciulionis could start there at Denver Thursday night. They finish the road trip in Dallas on Saturday… .

The Sonics now are 4-10 in games they fail to score 100 points.

Jazz 114, SuperSonics 92

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Schrempf 39 2-12 6-7 4-5 4 2 11 Kemp 30 6-15 3-5 4-9 0 4 15 Johnson 19 3-5 0-0 2-6 1 5 6 McMillan 33 2-6 0-2 2-4 3 2 5 Payton 37 12-22 1-2 1-1 6 3 26 Perkins 31 3-10 3-4 2-2 2 4 11 Marciulionis 29 4-10 1-2 0-0 4 1 12 Houston 16 3-7 0-0 1-6 1 3 6 Scheffler 4 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 Wingfield 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 35-87 14-22 16-34 21 24 92

Percentages: FG .402, FT .636.

3-Point Goals: 8-25, .320 (Marciulionis 3-8, Perkins 2-3, McMillan 1-3, Payton 1-4, Schrempf 1-5, Houston 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 7.

Blocked shots: 7 (Johnson 3, Shrempf, Kemp, Perkins, Scheffler).

Turnovers: 10 (Schrempf 2, McMillan 2, Johnson, Payton, Perkins, Marciulionis, Houston, Scheffler).

Steals: 11 (McMillan 4, Johnson 2, Payton 2, Kemp, Perkins, Marciulionis).

Technical fouls: Payton, 8:38 3rd; illegal defense, 7:53 1st; illegal defense, 4:52 1st; illegal defense, 8:31 2nd.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb UTAH Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Benoit 32 3-10 0-0 4-7 0 2 7 Malone 40 11-13 9-11 1-17 7 2 31 Donaldson 7 0-0 0-0 1-4 1 1 0 Stockton 33 4-10 2-2 0-3 13 2 11 Hornacek 28 7-11 4-5 0-1 4 0 20 Crotty 15 1-2 2-2 0-1 3 0 4 Carr 24 9-10 2-2 0-2 1 5 20 Edwards 5 0-2 0-0 1-1 0 1 0 Keefe 22 3-6 0-0 3-8 0 1 6 Chambers 16 0-5 2-2 0-2 1 1 2 Watson 15 5-5 1-1 0-1 1 1 11 Russell 3 1-3 0-0 0-0 1 0 2 Totals 240 44-77 22-25 10-47 32 16 114

Percentages: FG .571, FT .880.

3-Point Goals: 4-10, .400 (Hornacek 2-3, Benoit 1-2, Stockton 1-4, Russell 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 8.

Blocked shots: 7 (Keefe 3, Benoit, Carr, Chambers, Watson).

Turnovers: 18 (Malone 3, Stockton 3, Benoit 2, Crotty 2, Carr 2, Edwards 2, Donaldson, Hornacek, Keefe, Watson).

Steals: 6 (Stockton 2, Benoit, Malone, Keefe, Watson).

Technical fouls: illegal defense, 1:29 3rd.

Illegal defense: 1.

Seattle 17 27 25 23 - 92 Utah 37 28 20 29 - 114

A-19,911 (19,911). T-2:02.

Officials-Hue Hollins, Tommie Wood, Derrick Stafford.