Defense Does It For Sonics Payton, Kemp Make Timely Plays As Seattle Edges Denver, 90-86

With their shots missing in the fourth quarter, Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton and a ball-hawking defense saved the Seattle SuperSonics’ 90-86 victory Friday over the Denver Nuggets.

“Defense is something I’ve been stressing with this team for weeks,” Sonics coach George Karl said. “I was happy with our defense at the end of the game, but we need to sustain that for the whole game.”

Payton had two steals and Kemp another in the last minute as the Sonics had 18 steals in beating the Nuggets for the second time in three meetings.

Neither Kemp nor Payton would talk to reporters after the game.

Detlef Schrempf led the Sonics with 22 points on 6-for-8 shooting and had nine rebounds, eight assists and four steals.

“We’ve talked about improving our defense, and tonight it was the difference,” Schrempf said.

The Sonics held the Nuggets without a basket the last 3:51 and held an opponent to 90 points or less for the first time since they beat the Nuggets 111-89 on Jan. 24.

The Sonics made 6 of 14 shots in the fourth quarter and 9 of 16 free throws. Still, they survived.

“Coach (Karl) has told us we weren’t going to win many games unless our defense is there,” Sam Perkins said. He had 17 points and five rebounds.

The Sonics started the night tied with Orlando as the NBA’s highest-scoring team at 111.5 points per game.

“Denver’s defense set the tone for the game,” Karl said. “We didn’t try and slow the game down.”

Kemp had nine points in the fourth quarter. His two free throws put the Sonics ahead to stay 88-86 with 1:26 left.

The Sonics had chances to put the Nuggets away but missed 4 of 6 free throws to keep the crowd of 18,056 from resting easy. Kemp stole a Nuggets pass with 23.6 seconds left but missed both free throws. Payton grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He made one of two free throws for an 89-86 advantage.

Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf missed a jumper from 18 feet, grabbed the rebound and missed a shot in the lane. Kendall Gill rebounded the miss, was fouled and made one of two free throws.

Then Payton stole the inbounds pass for his seventh steal as the final buzzer sounded.

SuperSonics 90, Nuggets 86

FG FT Reb DENVER Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Rogers 31 3-12 1-2 4-4 3 4 7 R.Williams 30 6-11 4-4 2-7 3 6 17 Mutombo 42 1-5 3-4 4-11 1 5 5 Abdul-Rauf 37 8-17 0-0 1-6 4 3 16 Rose 40 4-7 4-5 2-4 11 3 13 D.Ellis 31 6-11 2-3 1-2 0 0 14 Stith 22 3-8 1-2 1-6 2 4 7 Levingston 6 2-2 0-1 0-1 0 4 4 Hammonds 1 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 0 3 Totals 240 34-74 16-22 15-41 24 29 86

Percentages: FG .459, FT .727.

3-Point Goals: 2-10, .200 (Rose 1-3, R.Williams 1-4, D.Ellis 0-1, Abdul-Rauf 0-1, Rogers 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 6.

Blocked shots: 6 (Mutombo 4, Rose, Stith).

Turnovers: 22 (Rose 5, Abdul-Rauf 5, D.Ellis 4, R.Williams 3, Rogers 2, Levingston, Mutombo, team)

Steals: 11 (R.Williams 3, Rogers 2, Abdul-Rauf 2, Rose 2, Mutombo, Levingston).

Technical fouls: None

Illegal defense: None.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 27 5-8 3-6 1-6 0 5 13 Schrempf 39 6-8 7-8 1-9 8 4 22 Perkins 34 6-9 2-2 2-5 3 1 17 Gill 32 4-10 2-4 0-4 1 1 11 Payton 38 3-14 7-10 2-3 8 1 13 McMillan 23 1-2 0-0 0-2 3 4 2 Marciulionis 18 3-4 1-2 0-1 1 3 8 Cartwright 14 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 3 0 Askew 15 0-3 4-4 0-1 1 1 4 Totals 240 28-59 26-36 6-32 25 23 90

Percentages: FG .475. FT .722.

3-Point Goals: 8-14, .571 (Schrempf 3-3, Perkins 3-3, Marciulionis 1-1, Gill 1-2, Kemp 0-1, McMillan 0-1, Payton 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 8.

Blocked shots: 2 (Schrempf, Gill).

Turnovers: 16 (Payton 4, Gill 4, Marciulionis 2, Perkins 2, Schrempf 2, Kemp, team).

Steals: 18 (Payton 7, Schrempf 4, McMillan 3, Marciulionis, Cartwright, Perkins, Kemp).

Technical fouls: None.

Flagrant fouls: Askew, 1:11 2nd

Illegal defense: None.

Denver 23 27 18 18 - 86 Seattle 23 22 23 22 - 90

A-18,056 (16,296). T-2:13.

Officials-Bennett Salvatore, Blane Reichelt, Ken Mauer.