Payton, Sonics Put Lakers In Place

Anyone who didn’t believe the rumors of Gary Payton’s demise due to a fractured ring finger in his left hand had to be beaming Tuesday night in the Forum.

Just 24 hours after Payton was 6 of 18 from the field and looking awkward during the Seattle SuperSonics’ 97-93 loss to Portland, he showed every reason to believe he’s just fine. Payton scored 23 of his points in the first half to lead the Sonics to a 113-97 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in a game that saw Seattle lead by 30 in the third quarter.

“Don’t talk about it (the finger) no more,” Payton said. “It was a bad shooting night (Monday), and that’s that, all right?”

All right. All right. The entire notion that Payton would be ineffective greatly amused Lakers coach Del Harris.

“Before the game, somebody asked me if we had made plans to take advantage of his injury,” Harris said. “Yeah, we took advantage of it all right. I’d say he showed he could play with it.”

Not only did Payton prove he’s capable of handling anybody - including point guard Nick Van Exel, who had 40 points in their last meeting - but it also ended the Lakers’ hope to sweep the Sonics after winning the first four games of the season series.

“We’ve got to start getting our playoff faces on,” said Van Exel, with a less-thanstellar 11 points and four assists, along with no defense.

Meanwhile, everyone was alive for the Sonics, particularly Ervin Johnson, who equaled his career-high with 14 rebounds and had three blocks as well.

“We got pushed around last night by Portland,” Johnson said. “The coaches told me just to go out and be aggressive and not worry about fouls.”

So he did, prompting Karl to say, “That’s not good, that’s big time what he was doing out there. Really good.”

It kept the Sonics (56-23) within a half-game of the Phoenix Suns in the Pacific Division race, while the Lakers (48-32) now have just a halfgame edge over the Houston Rockets.

“We made our point,” Sonics forward Sam Perkins said. “Coach (Karl) said before the game to have fun and show them what we’re about. I think we proved that.”

Leading by as many as 37 points long before the fourth quarter even began, garbage-time lasted the rest of the game. Rooting for reserves was all the sellout crowd of 17,505 could hope for.

SuperSonics 113, Lakers 97

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 28 6-8 6-8 2-14 2 4 18 Schrempf 21 5-10 4-4 0-3 3 1 14 Johnson 27 4-7 0-0 5-14 2 3 8 McMillan 36 3-6 0-0 0-2 13 2 8 Payton 33 12-17 2-5 1-4 7 1 28 Perkins 20 4-5 0-0 0-0 2 0 10 Askew 25 2-5 3-6 1-2 3 2 7 Gill 27 5-13 0-0 0-5 3 1 10 Cartwright 10 1-2 0-0 1-1 0 1 2 Houston 8 3-5 1-2 1-2 0 3 7 Scheffler 5 0-1 1-2 0-0 0 0 1 Totals 240 45-79 17-27 11-47 35 18 113

Percentages: FG .570, FT .630.

3-Point Goals: 6-17, .353 (Perkins 2-2, McMillan 2-3, Payton 2-6, Gill 0-1, Houston 0-1, Schrempf 0-2, Askew 0-2). Team Rebounds: 11. Blocked shots: 10 (Kemp 3, Johnson 3, Perkins 3, Gill). Turnovers: 15 (Askew 4, Kemp 3, Gill 3, McMillan 2, Schrempf, Payton, Cartwright). Steals: 9 (Kemp 3, Payton 2, Perkins 2, McMillan, Houston).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 3:01 second; Illegal defense, 5:18 fourth. Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb L.A. LAKERS Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Campbell 24 4-9 5-5 2-5 1 5 13 Ceballos 26 4-10 2-2 1-4 2 0 11 Divac 17 0-6 2-2 1-1 2 1 2 Jones 25 1-9 1-2 0-3 1 2 4 Van Exel 32 2-8 6-6 1-2 4 2 11 Bowie 10 1-1 1-2 0-0 0 1 3 Peeler 25 7-14 2-2 0-1 3 0 18 Lynch 22 5-9 0-0 1-3 4 2 10 Smith 22 3-6 0-0 0-4 7 0 7 Miller 22 4-6 2-5 5-9 3 3 10 Harvey 15 4-6 0-0 0-0 3 2 8 Totals 240 35-84 21-26 11-32 30 18 97

Percentages: FG .417, FT .808.

3-Point Goals: 6-17, .353 (Peeler 2-5, Ceballos 1-2, Van Exel 1-2, Smith 1-3, Jones 1-4, Lynch 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 8.

Blocked shots: 4 (Bowie 2, Miller, Harvey).

Turnovers: 15 (Divac 4, Campbell 2, Peeler 2, Lynch 2, Miller 2, Jones, Bowie, Smith).

Steals: 8 (Ceballos 2, Divac, Jones, Peeler, Lynch, Smith, Harvey).

Technical fouls: None.

Illegal defense: 1. Seattle 34 30 26 23 - 113 L.A. Lakers 21 13 25 38 - 97

A-17,505 (17,505). T-1:59.

Officials-Bruce Alexander, Joe Forte, Woody Mayfield.