`Banged-Up’ Sonics Pound Out Victory Kemp’s Calf Injury Clouds Win Over New-Look Warriors

While the Golden State Warriors dealt with yet another trade, the Seattle SuperSonics overcame physical distractions to win Saturday night.

“We just gutted out a game,” Seattle coach George Karl said after the Sonics finished off a 129-117 victory over the Warriors, who traded forward Tom Gugliotta to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Donyell Marshall 3 hours before the game (see notebook, C2).

The Sonics, already playing without guard Sarunas Marciulionis, lost Shawn Kemp to a strained left calf in the first quarter. His injury status is day-to-day.

“With Shawn going out, and Sarunas out, we’re very tired and banged-up,” Karl said.

“We had to win it, and we found a way to win it.”

Warriors coach Bob Lanier said his team, which kept it close for three quarters, played as well as it could under the circumstances.

“Anytime you lose a good guy - he’s a nice guy, everybody likes Googs - I think it had to affect us some way,” Lanier said. “We literally just ran out of gas. We’re undermanned, we don’t have manpower, but the guys played pretty good despite all that.”

Seattle’s Gary Payton said he thought the trade was a good one for both teams. Gugliotta had trouble matching his production of last season since arriving from Washington in the Chris Webber deal last November.

“They’re getting a good ballplayer in Donyell Marshall,” Payton said. “I hope each guy gets a better opportunity where they’re going to be, and I hope they’ll both be satisfied.”

Detlef Schrempf scored 17 of his 31 points in a decisive fourth quarter for Seattle.

The Sonics have won five straight and 11 of 13 meetings against the Warriors, who have not put together back-to-back wins since Dec. 22 and 27. Golden State lost its third straight home game.

Leading 94-92 early in the fourth quarter, the Sonics scored nine straight points in a span of 1:10 to take control of the game. Schrempf’s putback with 9:23 to play gave Seattle a 103-92 lead.

Four of those points came on free throws from little-used reserve forward Byron Houston, a former Warrior, who went 10 for 10 from the line. Houston entered the game just 8 for 12 from the line all season.

Latrell Sprewell led Golden State with 30 points, while Tim Hardaway had 21 points and added a second straight 19-assist game. Chris Gatling tied his season high with 26 points and 12 rebounds.

Payton had 29 points and Kendall Gill 22 for the Sonics.

The Sonics turned a 16-9 deficit into a 25-18 lead with a 16-2 run, capped by Kemp’s three-point play with 2:46 left.

But Kemp injured his left calf muscle on the next possession and did not return.

The teams combined for 73 points in the second quarter. Seattle hung on to a slim lead at halftime as Sprewell hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to pull the Warriors to 63-61.

Gatling scored 18 points in the second quarter, hitting six of his seven shots. Sonics 129, Warriors 117

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 10 2-4 1-1 1-2 0 2 5 Schrempf 41 9-16 12-15 4-9 5 4 31 Perkins 30 4-9 4-5 3-9 2 1 14 Gill 42 9-15 2-2 0-2 4 3 22 Payton 42 13-23 3-6 2-4 7 4 29 McMillan 26 2-5 4-4 2-4 5 4 8 Johnson 11 0-4 0-0 4-5 0 3 0 Askew 24 3-7 2-2 0-2 0 4 0 Houston 14 1-4 10-10 3-4 1 2 12 Totals 240 43-87 38-45 19-41 24 27 129

Percentages: FG .494, FT .844.

3-Point Goals: 5-15, .333 (Perkins 2-4, Gill 2-4, Schrempf 1-2, McMillan 0-1, Houston 0-1, Payton 0-1, Askew 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 8.

Blocked shots: 1 (Kemp).

Turnovers: 12 (Schrempf 2, Payton 2, McMillan 2, Kemp, Perkins, Gill, Johnson, Askew, team).

Steals: 14 (Gill 5, Payton 4, Perkins 2, McMillan 2, Houston).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 9:17 second; Illegal defense, 8:03 fourth; Illegal defense, 3:24 fourth; McMillan, 11:13 second.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb GOLDEN STATE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Gatling 34 10-14 6-8 5-12 2 6 26 Rogers 35 6-13 1-2 4-6 1 5 13 Seikaly 21 5-6 0-0 1-5 2 2 10 Hardaway 45 7-24 4-7 1-4 19 6 21 Sprewell 44 7-11 13-13 0-4 4 1 30 Rozier 6 0-0 0-0 1-1 0 2 0 Alexander 20 5-6 0-2 2-4 1 2 10 Wood 26 3-5 0-2 2-5 1 4 6 Jennings 7 0-0 1-1 0-0 2 0 1 Morton 2 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 43-81 25-35 16-41 32 28 117

Percentages: FG .531, FT .714.

3-Point Goals: 6-20, .300 (Hardaway 3-13, Sprewell 3-5, Wood 0-1, Morton 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 9.

Blocked shots: 6 (Rogers 3, Seikaly, Sprewell, Alexander).

Turnovers: 20 (Seikaly 7, Sprewell 4, Hardaway 3, Gatling 2, Rogers 2, Alexander 2).

Steals: 7 (Gatling 2, Hardaway 2, Sprewell, Rozier, Alexander).

Technical fouls: Hardaway, 3:34 second; Illegal defense, 10:39 fourth; Illegal defense, 10:03 fourth.

Flagrant foul: Hardaway, 10:13 fourth.

Illegal defense: 1. Seattle 27 36 29 37 - 129 Golden State 24 37 29 27 - 117

A-15,025 (15,025). T-2:19.

Officials-Steve Javie, Joe DeRosa, Sean Corbin.