Sonics Make It Five Straight Wins

It took the Seattle SuperSonics a little longer than usual to get warmed up Friday night but once they hit their stride they ran past the Los Angeles Clippers for their fifth straight win.

Most of the Sonics reached the Tacoma Dome late because of a fatal accident on Interstate 5 that backed up freeway traffic for miles.

“We thought for a second that we might have to play with six or seven guys,” Sonics coach George Karl said. “We asked the refs to call the league on maybe delaying the game, but they never got back to us.”

Kendall Gill, who left Seattle, 30 miles north of Tacoma, some 3 hours before game time, arrived just before tipoff.

“We had about 12 minutes to warm up,” Gill said.

“Everybody was a little tired,” said Detlef Schrempf, who led the Sonics with 23 points in the 108-101 victory. “It wasn’t a high-energy game.”

“Det’s been playing (Larry) Birdlike the last couple of weeks,” Karl said. “He’s been very solid.”

Gill scored 20 points for the Sonics. Shawn Kemp added 19 and Gary Payton 18 for the Sonics.

The victory pulled Seattle within two games of the idle Phoenix Suns in the Pacific Division. The Clippers have lost four in a row.

Lamond Murray led Los Angeles with 24 points. Teammate Loy Vaught paced all rebounders with 15, one more than Seattle’s Kemp.

The Sonics held an 83-77 advantage after three periods, then held Murray scoreless in the first 10:34 of the fourth period and opened a 107-92 lead. It was 108-94 before the Clippers scored the final seven points.

The Clippers wound up outshooting Seattle 48 percent to 42 percent.Gill, off a pass from Payton, connected on a 3-point shot from the left side just 13 seconds before intermission to nudge Seattle ahead, 60-59.The Clippers hit 61 percent of their first-half shots, holding Seattle to 43 percent. But the Sonics had a six-point free-throw advantage, outrebounded Los Angeles 21-14 and forced nine turnovers in the first two periods.

SuperSonics 108, Clippers 101

FG FT Reb L.A. CLIPPERS Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Murray 46 10-16 2-2 2-3 2 1 24 Vaught 35 5-13 5-6 4-15 6 3 15 Outlaw 21 2-4 0-0 1-2 2 4 4 Dehere 31 6-13 0-1 0-4 3 3 12 Richardson 29 5-11 0-1 0-2 8 2 11 Grant 19 2-6 2-4 1-2 0 3 6 Massenburg 20 3-4 2-2 1-3 1 5 8 Piatkowski 16 3-5 3-3 1-2 1 1 9 Sealy 17 3-9 6-8 2-2 0 1 12 Riley 6 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 2 0 Totals 240 39-82 20-27 12-36 24 25 101

Percentages: FG .476, FT .741.

3-Point Goals: 3-11, .273 (Murray 2-4, Richardson 1-3, Outlaw 0-1, Sealy 0-1, Piatkowski 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 15.

Blocked shots: 8 (Murray 3, Grant 2, Outlaw, Piatkowski, Sealy).

Turnovers: 16 (Riley 4, Grant 3, Vaught 2, Dehere 2, Sealy 2, Murray, Richardson, Piatkowski).

Steals: 6 (Grant 3, Richardson, Outlaw, Vaught).

Technical fouls: Vaught, 9:38 fourth; Illegal defense, 1:56 third.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 37 6-15 7-8 6-14 0 4 19 Schrempf 37 8-13 6-7 3-11 1 3 23 Perkins 25 3-7 2-2 1-2 2 0 8 Gill 39 6-15 7-8 4-7 5 3 20 Payton 38 6-18 6-6 3-4 11 2 18 Askew 26 4-7 1-1 1-3 3 1 10 Marciulionis 24 3-9 1-2 0-1 2 4 8 Johnson 12 1-3 0-0 1-2 0 3 2 Houston 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 37-89 30-34 19-44 24 20 108

Percentages: FG .416, FT .882.

3-Point Goals: 4-10, .400 (Schrempf 1-1, Askew 1-2, Marciulionis 1-2, Gill 1-3, Perkins 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 11.

Blocked shots: 6 (Kemp 3, Perkins, Payton, Johnson).

Turnovers: 12 (Schrempf 4, Kemp 3, Askew 3, Gill, Payton).

Steals: 9 (Payton 3, Gill 2, Perkins, Schrempf, Kemp, Askew).

Technical fouls: Payton, 5:25 fourth; Illegal defense, 7:14 third; Illegal defense, 1:36 fourth.

Illegal defense: 1. L.A. Clippers 33 26 18 24 - 101 Seattle 28 32 23 25 - 108

A-13,836. T-2:07.

Officials-Jake O’Donnell, David Jones, Joe Borgia.