Easy To Put A Finger On This Win Gill’s Return, Payton’s Perseverance Give Sonics Victory Over Warriors

Unlike a hamburger, it doesn’t take two hands to handle the Golden State Warriors.

Just ask Gary Payton, Seattle SuperSonics point guard who played Saturday afternoon with the broken left ring finger he suffered in the third quarter of q 21-point win over Dallas Thursday night.

“I was fine,” Payton said. “I could have used it, but what’s the use? Don’t force yourself if you don’t have to.”

Evidently, he knew what he was talking about. Payton scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half to lead the Sonics to a 115-99 victory over the Warriors in Oakland Coliseum.

The victory for the Sonics (55-22) solidified their hold on first place in the Pacific Division, while the Warriors fell to 25-53.

“I thought the whole life of the game got going about the eight-minute mark of the third quarter,” Sonics coach George Karl said. “Once we got the lead, we had all the confidence that we were going to win it. I was real happy with (Payton’s) performance. We’re still trying to evaluate his finger to see what position he’s in. I think he wasn’t as aggressive defensively. But in the second half, offensively, he was a real problem for them.”

In Kendall Gill’s first game back (10 points, three rebounds, three assists and a steal in 23 minutes) after missing five with a metabolic imbalance that caused depression, Payton never considered not playing. Although it’s only 287 games in a row, he’s got his eyes set on Randy Smith’s all-time record of 906.

“This is the NBA,” said Payton, who also had 10 assists and two steals. “I’ll fix this thing when we go on our (NBA Championship) parade and I have a cast on it. Then I’ll go relax on some island somewhere and let it heal.”

Meanwhile, everybody seemed relaxed at the start of this game. With the Warriors fielding a starting lineup of Keith Jennings, Cliff Rozier, Donyell Marshall, Carlos Rogers along with Chris Mullin, the Sonics were hardly enthused from the opening tipoff.

“That’s because it’s an afternoon game,” Sonics forward Shawn Kemp said. “I never dunk before 1 o’clock.”

He didn’t Saturday, either. Oh, Kemp got it going with 14 points and 13 rebounds, but only in 24 minutes due to foul trouble in just another one of 77 games that become increasingly bizarre in the officiating.

“That’s the NBA,” Kemp said. “It happens every game.”

But it wasn’t like the Warriors were about to blow out the Sonics, either. Actually, the Sonics led by a deuce after the first quarter and the Warriors weren’t about to start thumping their chests with a sixpoint halftime lead. When they did was at the outset of the third period. Rogers, whose rights were traded by the Sonics with Ricky Pierce for Sarunas Mariculionis and Byron Houston, dunked and drew Kemp’s fourth foul simultaneously at the 10:32 mark of the fourth quarter. Rogers, Rozier and Marshall reacted like the Little Rascals, giggling and bumping chests.

It was silly, and the seven-point lead by the Warriors didn’t last. Karl opted to start Nate McMillan in the second half at guard, sliding Detlef Schrempf back up to forward and bringing Sam Perkins off the bench.

“We just needed to play much faster,” Payton said.

SuperSonics 115, Warriors 99

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 24 6-15 2-3 9-13 2 5 14 Perkins 31 5-11 5-6 2-6 1 2 16 Johnson 19 3-8 0-0 4-10 1 2 6 Payton 34 11-20 2-3 3-4 10 3 24 Schrempf 40 9-14 4-4 3-11 2 3 23 McMillan 34 4-13 0-2 1-4 7 4 8 Askew 32 5-7 2-5 1-2 2 2 12 Gill 23 4-10 2-2 1-3 3 3 10 Houston 2 0-3 0-0 1-1 0 0 0 Scheffler 1 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2 Totals 240 48-102 17-25 25-54 28 24 115

Percentages: FG .471, FT .680.

3-Point Goals: 2-12, .167 (Schrempf 1-3, Perkins 1-5, Askew 0-1, Gill 0-1, McMillan 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 8.

Blocked shots: 6 (Johnson 3, Kemp, McMillan, Gill).

Turnovers: 13 (Kemp 4, Johnson 2, McMillan 2, Gill 2, Perkins, Payton, Askew).

Steals: 16 (McMillan 6, Kemp 3, Perkins 2, Payton 2, Schrempf 2, Gill).

Technical fouls: Payton, 3:09, 2nd; Kemp, 6:27, 3rd.

Illegal defense: None.

FG FT Reb GOLDEN STATE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Marshall 36 6-11 0-0 1-4 2 4 14 Rogers 32 6-15 1-1 6-11 2 1 13 Rozier 32 5-8 4-6 2-12 1 2 14 Jennings 21 4-8 2-4 0-2 6 5 11 Mullin 30 3-4 3-3 0-2 8 2 11 Wood 24 3-7 1-1 0-1 0 3 8 Legler 28 5-11 1-1 4-7 2 1 13 Lorthridge 27 4-10 3-4 1-3 4 1 11 Morton 10 1-6 2-4 2-4 1 2 4 Totals 240 37-80 17-24 16-46 26 21 99

Percentages: FG .463, FT .708.

3-Point Goals: 8-20, .400 (Mullin 2-3, Legler 2-4, Marshall 2-6, Wood 1-2, Jennings 1-3, Rogers 0-1, Morton 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 4.

Blocked shots: 5 (Marshall 4, Rogers).

Turnovers: 23 (Marshall 5, Mullin 5, Jennings 4, Wood 3, Rogers 2, Lorthridge 2, Rozier, Morton).

Steals: 6 (Jennings 2, Rozier, Mullin, Lorthridge, Morton).

Technical fouls: Rogers, 2:01, 1st; Illegal defense, 1:40, 2nd.

Illegal defense: None. Seattle 27 21 34 33 - 115 Golden State 25 29 25 20 - 99

A-15,025 (15,025). T-1:57.

Officials-George Toliver, Tommie Nunez, Hue Hollins.