Sonics Rip Nuggets; Winning Streak Hits 10

How well are the Seattle SuperSonics playing in January? They can even handle the Denver Nuggets these days.

“I guess for the fans’ sake and the media’s sake, this win was important. For our sake, too, I guess,” Nate McMillan said Tuesday night, after the Sonics ended a four-game losing streak against Denver with a 111-89 victory.

The Nuggets were the team that shocked Seattle in the first round of the playoffs last May, and they also beat Seattle on Christmas Day.

Shawn Kemp scored 19 points as the Sonics won their 10th straight and 17th in a row at home.

“Beating them one time isn’t good enough,” Seattle’s Sam Perkins said. “We’re going to have to do this again.”

The Sonics, who haven’t lost since Dec. 29, handed the Nuggets their fifth consecutive loss under interim coach Gene Littles, who replaced Dan Issel after Issel’s surprise resignation Jan. 15.

Seattle ended its losing streak against the Nuggets despite a 27-point performance by Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf.

The Sonics, who have the league’s third-best record at 28-9, improved their Tacoma Dome record to 18-1.

Gary Payton added 16 points and eight assists while Detlef Schrempf had 16 points for the Sonics. Teammate Kendall Gill scored 14 points.

Seattle’s playoff loss to Denver ruined its championship hopes after the team won a league-high 63 games last season. The Sonics spent the summer agonizing over what might have been.

“We’ve got to play Denver two more games this season,” Sonics coach George Karl said. “Hopefully, we’ll learn something more on how to play them.”

The Nuggets, 105-96 Christmas Day winners over Seattle in Denver in the teams’ first meeting this season, didn’t have the firepower to match the Sonics, with the exception of Abdul-Rauf, who made 12 of 19 shots from the field.

Starting a three-guard offense with Payton and Gill joined by McMillan, the Sonics scored the game’s first nine points, but Denver came back and trailed 26-25 after the first quarter, 58-50 at halftime.

The Sonics lengthened their lead to 82-70 after three quarters, but the Nuggets still were in the game at 91-81 after an Abdul-Rauf 3-pointer with 5:49 to go.

A layup by Vincent Askew, a 3-pointer by McMillan from 5 feet behind the 3-point line as the 24-second clock expired and two free throws by Schrempf put Seattle up 98-81 with 4:27 on the clock.

The Sonics committed a seasonlow eight turnovers and are two victories away from tying the franchise’s all-time winning streak, set when Seattle won its first dozen games in 1982.

SuperSonics 111, Nuggets 89

FG FT Reb DENVER Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Rogers 24 2-8 0-1 0-3 1 3 4 R.Williams 29 2-6 0-0 1-5 4 3 4 Mutombo 37 3-8 3-4 7-16 3 3 9 Abdul-Rauf 28 12-19 1-2 1-2 3 1 27 Stith 29 3-9 2-2 1-2 5 0 8 B.Williams 21 5-7 6-9 1-7 0 2 16 Pack 19 1-5 3-3 1-2 3 2 5 D.Ellis 22 5-11 0-0 1-2 0 1 11 Levingston 14 2-4 1-2 1-2 1 2 5 Rose 17 0-2 0-0 0-0 4 2 0 Totals 240 35-79 16-23 14-41 24 19 89

Percentages: FG .443, FT .696.

3-Point Goals: 3-14, .214 (Abdul-Rauf 2-3, D.Ellis 1-3, Rogers 0-1, Stith 0-1, Pack 0-1, Rose 0-2, R.Williams 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 11.

Blocked shots: 9 (Mutombo 5, Levingston 2, Rose 2).

Turnovers: 18 (Rogers 3, Pack 3, R.Williams 2, Mutombo 2, Abdul-Rauf 2, B.Williams 2, Rose 2, D.Ellis, team).

Steals: 5 (Pack 3, R.Williams, Stith).

Technical foul: Mutombo, 2:47 fourth.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts McMillan 26 4-6 0-0 1-7 5 2 11 Schrempf 33 5-11 5-6 2-9 5 2 16 Kemp 32 8-13 3-4 1-6 3 4 19 Gill 26 6-12 2-2 1-4 2 4 14 Payton 38 6-15 3-5 1-3 8 1 16 Perkins 28 4-11 0-0 1-5 1 2 9 Askew 24 3-3 4-4 1-3 2 1 10 Marciulionis 22 4-8 0-0 0-0 1 2 10 Cartwright 9 2-2 2-2 1-2 1 1 6 Johnson 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Totals 240 42-81 19-23 9-39 29 19 111

Percentages: FG .519, FT .826.

3-Point Goals: 8-19, .421 (McMillan 3-4, Marciulionis 2-4, Schrempf 1-3, Payton 1-3, Perkins 1-4, Gill 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 3.

Blocked shots: 4 (Kemp 2, McMillan, Schrempf).

Turnovers: 8 (Schrempf 2, Marciulionis 2, Kemp, Gill, Payton, Perkins).

Steals: 8 (Kemp 2, Perkins 2, McMillan, Schrempf, Gill, Payton).

Technical fouls: None.

Illegal defense: None. Denver 25 25 20 19 - 89 Seattle 26 32 24 29 - 111

A-16,352. T-2:04.

Officials-Ed F. Rush, Ken Mauer, Ron Olesiak.