Sonics All-Stars Ruin Lanier’s First Outing
Golden State was trying to win one for their new coach, Bob Lanier. When it got down to crunch time, the inspired Warriors were overcome by Seattle’s All-Star trio of Gary Payton, Detlef Schrempf and Shawn Kemp.
“They’re a great team with great players. Those guys are good down the stretch,” said Lanier, who took over as interim coach after Don Nelson resigned Monday. “It makes it hard to defend a team like Seattle.”
The trio scored 21 of the Sonics’ 29 fourth-quarter points as the Sonics returned from the All-Star break Tuesday with an 118-108 victory over the Warriors.
Payton had 26 points, Kemp 21 points and 10 rebounds and Schrempf added 21 points. Kemp started in the All-Star game Sunday in Phoenix and Payton and Schrempf both made their second appearances as reserves.
Nate McMillan had six points, six rebounds and 10 assists in 31 minutes without a turnover. The Sonics co-captain said Seattle’s All-Stars were the difference.
“I was proud of the way we played down the stretch,” McMillan said. “Detlef (Schrempf) and Gary (Payton) came up with the big plays when we needed them.”
When All-Star starter Latrell Sprewell made a baseline jumper for a 103-100 lead, the Warriors were poised to win their first game under Lanier.
But the Sonics outscored the Warriors 18-5 the rest of the way to improve their home court record to 20-4. They put their franchise best 10-game road winning streak on the line today in Los Angeles against the Lakers.
“Like great teams do, they came back,” Lanier said. “Then we made some defensive mistakes, which cost us the ball game.”
Sonics coach George Karl was not surprised that the Warriors played the Sonics tough.
“The normal proceedure for a team going through changes is that they come out and are aggressive,” Karl said. “That was certainly the case tonight.”
Schrempf was 3 for 4 from the field in the fourth quarter and scored eight points in the period.
“After the All-Star break, you don’t know what to expect,” Schrempf said. “It felt good to make a big basket at the end. Getting a win by playing well in the fourth quarter is good for us.”
Hardaway said his teammates put on a good effort against the Sonics.
“We had a valiant effort but just came up short.”
Hardaway and Chris Gatling had 20 points apiece for the Warriors. They made seven of 17 from 3-point range, giving them a record 299 3-pointers this season.
SuperSonics 118, Warriors 108
FG FT Reb
GOLDEN STATE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts
Gatling 26 9-12 2-3 2-10 2 5 20
Gugliotta 24 0-4 0-0 0-1 4 1 0
Alexander 35 7-16 4-4 4-6 1 2 19
Hardaway 40 7-18 3-4 1-5 8 3 20
Sprewell 28 5-10 2-2 0-1 6 4 13
Pierce 24 4-9 0-0 0-1 1 4 9
Rogers 13 1-1 2-4 0-3 0 3 4
Wood 22 6-9 0-0 3-4 0 4 12
Rozier 13 3-3 0-1 1-7 0 5 6
Jennings 15 2-2 0-0 0-2 5 2 5
Totals 240 44-84 13-18 11-40 27 33 108
Percentages: FG .524, FT .722.
3-Point Goals: 7-17, .412 (Hardaway 3-9, Jennings 1-1, Pierce 1-2, Sprewell 1-2, Alexander 1-2, Wood 0-1).
Team Rebounds: 3
Blocked shots: 10 (Gugliotta 3, Gatling 2, Rogers 2, Alexander, Rozier, Hardaway).
Turnovers: 17 (Gatling 4, Sprewell 4, Pierce 3, Hardaway 2, Alexander, Rogers, Wood, Rozier).
Steals: 2 (Gatling, Hardaway).
Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 5:16, third.
Illegal defense: 1.
FG FT Reb
SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts
Kemp 30 7-12 7-10 6-10 2 5 21
Schrempf 37 8-15 4-5 1-6 6 3 21
Perkins 31 2-6 5-8 5-12 1 2 9
Gill 39 8-18 5-7 1-7 1 3 21
Payton 41 9-19 6-8 3-4 7 2 26
McMillan 31 3-8 0-0 0-6 10 3 6
Askew 26 4-4 4-7 0-1 5 2 14
Cartwright 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Totals 240 41-83 31-45 16-46 32 21 118
Percentages: FG .494, FT .689.
3-Point Goals: 5-14, .357 (Askew 2-2, Payton 2-4, Schrempf 1-3, Perkins 0-1, Gill 0-2, McMillan 0-2).
Team Rebounds: 12
Blocked shots: 1 (Askew).
Turnovers: 13 (Kemp 5, Payton 3, Gill 2, Schrempf 2, Cartwright).
Steals: 10 (Payton 4, McMillan 2, Askew, Gill, Schrempf, Kemp).
Technical fouls: None.
Illegal defense: 1. Golden State 32 29 22 25 - 108 Seattle 31 23 35 29 - 118
A-13,918 (16,296). T-2:10.
Officials-Ed T. Rush, Luis Grillo, Bob Delaney.