Sonics Can’t Buck Blazers Williams Enjoys Big Night To Answer Thorpe Threat

Otis Thorpe made his debut for Portland, but it was a trio from the good old days, Buck Williams, Terry Porter and Jerome Kersey, who stole the show Friday night as the Trail Blazers beat Seattle 114-109.

Williams, the power forward Thorpe will battle for the starting job, had 24 points and 12 rebounds as Portland beat the Sonics for the first time since Jan. 15, 1994. Seattle had won the last five meetings, including both this year.

The victory was the first for Portland in three tries since Clyde Drexler was traded to Houston.

“There are a lot more shots floating around out there,” Williams said with a laugh. “Those 20-some shots that Clyde was getting off are out there somewhere. Whoever is making his shots are going to have to grab them.”

James Robinson, the starter in Drexler’s old spot, made a careerhigh six 3-pointers and scored 26 points, but coach P.J. Carlesimo went with Porter down the stretch, and the 10-year NBA veteran guard made several crucial plays.

“You don’t play for as long or as well as he’s played and forget,” Carlesimo said. “Terry Porter knows how to play basektball. Against these guys that’s probably more critical than against anybody else. They take you out of your stuff and you’ve just got to play basketball.”

Porter, who had missed the entire season while recovering from surgery on his right ankle, was activated just before the game began.

“I was surprised how good my timing was tonight,” Porter said. “I had probably five or six good practices under my belt and quite a few individual workouts. I thought I was going to be a lot rustier than I was.”

He was only 3-for-10 from the field but two of his baskets were 3-pointers, the last with 2:17 to play to put Portland ahead 109-101.

Seattle’s Gary Payton nearly had a steal before Porter’s game-clinching shot in what Sonics coach George Karl called the crucial play of the game.

Kersey had five points and four rebounds in the final quarter.

Shawn Kemp scored 30 points for the Sonics, who lost their second in a row on the road after winning the previous 10 away from home. Detlef Schrempf and Payton each had 18.

Karl said he wasn’t concerned about the Sonics’ recent troubles.

“This team’s too good to worry about,” he said. “We win games when we don’t play well, which is I think the sign of a very good basketball team. Tonight we had a team play very well against us and we hung in the game.”

Williams said it wasn’t Thorpe’s presence that motivated him but Kemp’s reverse two-handed slam dunk at the start.

“I knew at that point I was in for a very serious game with Shawn. He’s a very good competitor and I realized, `Hey, Buck, you’d better come play tonight.’ It was a wake-up call,” Williams said.

Trail Blazers 114, Sonics 109

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Schrempf 37 6-13 4-8 1-4 4 3 18 Kemp 38 12-19 6-8 3-7 0 5 30 Perkins 35 7-12 0-0 0-3 1 3 15 Gill 21 3-8 0-0 0-1 2 1 6 Payton 45 9-16 0-2 2-3 10 2 18 McMillan 25 1-1 0-0 1-4 4 4 2 Askew 25 3-11 8-9 2-2 1 2 14 Johnson 14 3-4 0-0 3-4 0 2 6 Totals 240 44-84 16-27 12-28 22 22 114

Percentages: FG .524, FT .667.

3-Point Goals: 3-8, .375 (Schrempf 2-3, Perkins 1-5).

Team Rebounds: 14.

Blocked shots: 1 (Perkins).

Turnovers: 15 (Kemp 5, Gill 4, Schrempf 2, McMillan 2, Askew 2).

Steals: 8 (Gill 3, Kemp, Perkins, Payton, McMillan, Johnson).

Technical fouls: Payton, 4:20 third; Illegal defense, 2:27 third; Perkins, 3:32 fourth.

Flagrant fouls: Perkins, 3:32 fourth.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb PORTLAND Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts C.Robinson 32 3-13 4-4 2-4 4 1 10 Williams 37 10-16 4-5 8-12 1 5 24 Dudley 29 0-1 4-4 2-6 0 3 4 Strickland 38 7-15 7-9 0-6 10 1 21 J.Robinson 35 9-12 2-2 0-1 3 3 26 Thorpe 13 3-6 1-2 2-3 0 4 7 Porter 23 3-10 1-2 1-4 3 2 9 Grant 9 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 2 2 Kersey 24 3-6 5-6 3-7 2 5 11 Totals 240 39-82 28-34 18-43 25 26 114

Percentages: FG .476, FT .824.

3-Point Goals: 8-16, .500 (J.Robinson 6-7, Porter 2-6, C.Robinson 0-1, Strickland 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 13.

Blocked shots: 5 (Dudley 4, C.Robinson).

Turnovers: 18 (J.Robinson 4, C.Robinson 3, Kersey 3, Williams 2, Dudley 2, Thorpe 2, Porter 2).

Steals: 12 (Strickland 3, Dudley 2, Kersey 2, C.Robinson, Williams, J.Robinson, Thorpe, Porter).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 9:00 third; C.Robinson, :07.7 fourth.

Ejections: C.Robinson, :07.7 fourth.

Illegal defense: 1.

Seattle 25 29 28 27 - 109

Portland 24 32 36 22 - 114

A-12,888 (12,888). T-2:11.

Officials-Jim Clark, Mike Mathis, Woody Mayfield.