Payton, Sonics Lighten Up On Karl

Gary Payton confronted Wally Walker, then George Karl Thursday night at The Forum. Arms flailing and head cocked, the Seattle SuperSonics’ All-Star guard was hurling his opinion to the team president, then the coach.

Stunningly, emphatically, the Sonics had been knocked out of the playoffs in the first round for the second year in a row. Losing three straight to the Los Angeles Lakers after winning Game 1 of the best-of-five series, the Sonics now have lost six of their past seven playoff games - including the last three to the Denver Nuggets last season.

None of it adds up for a team that has averaged 60 wins during the regular season for two years - making the Sonics the first team in National Basketball Association history to win that many games in two years and fail to make it out of the first round.

But after all the discussion between Payton and management, after ignoring interviews, he met the throng of reporters with nothing but glowing remarks about Karl.

“George Karl is going to stay our coach and I’m going to support him to the end,” Payton said. “When I came here he changed my whole game. And now to back out on him and say that it’s his fault, that ain’t right. And it ain’t his fault.”

Then again, Payton was furious the way the Sonics crumbled in the final minutes of their 114-110 loss to the Lakers Thursday night. The final shots of the game went to Sam Perkins and Detlef Schrempf. With Payton and Shawn Kemp, the Sonics’ two All-Stars and leading scorers on the court, the whole thing didn’t even begin to end the way they anticipated.

But part of the problem all year, according to the players, was the double standard with which Karl treated Payton and Kemp. They were allowed to skip the team plane, weight work and general team plans.

“We had a tough time,” Schrempf said. “Instead of pulling together, we kind of went different ways. We have to realize what kind of problems we have and we have to fix them.

“Last year, we coasted through the season, winning 63 games and everybody was stunned when we lost. This year was different. It’s been difficult from the beginning and we never got it back together again the way we should have. No way were we as good a team this year as last year, and the same thing happened in the playoffs both times.”

Karl, who turns 44 today, has compiled a 202-86 regular-season record and has about $1.6 million guaranteed left on his contract.

He is incommunicado for the next 10 days, according to the Sonics public-relations department.

The problem is, this is a team divided, with the most confused of the troops undoubtedly Nate McMillan. In his ninth season, McMillan received more responsibility and confidence from Karl than from either former coaches K.C. Jones or Bernie Bickerstaff.

McMillan was in tears after Thursday’s game. The possibility of another coaching change ate him up.

“He IS going to take the blame,” said McMillan, a co-captain with Perkins, of Karl. “Coaches go first. K.C., then Kloppy (Bob Kloppenburg) and now maybe George. It’s time for some of us to take the blame. They keep bringing in coaches, but you can’t keep doing that. It’s time for some of us players to reflect on what we’ve done.”