Sonics Thump Kings Seattle Clinches At Least Tie For Best Record In The West

The Sonics were surprised Sacramento played so poorly. The Kings weren’t.

“I thought they would come out hungry and at least show us they were going to give us a hard fight in the playoffs,” Ervin Johnson of the Sonics said.

That didn’t happen Wednesday night. The Sonics received little competition from their likely first-round playoff opponent, beating the Kings 108-89 to clinch a tie for the best record in the Western Conference.

“We jumped on ‘em right from the start,” coach George Karl said. “We know they’ll be a much better team in the playoffs.”

The Sonics had 20 points from Detlef Schrempf, 19 points and 11 rebounds from Shawn Kemp and 14 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots from Johnson.

Seattle completed a 4-0 regular-season sweep of the Kings, the team that is expected to wind up as the No. 8 seed in the first round of the playoffs.

Sacramento coach Gary St. Jean pointed out he was missing Sarunas Marciulionis (sore right knee) and Billy Owens (sore right foot). “We didn’t have two key pieces and we weren’t mentally sharp,” St. Jean said. “It was just a rainy night for us in Seattle.”

Mitch Richmond, the Kings’ top scorer at 23 a game, was limited to six points on 1-for-11 shooting.

The Kings noted they will have history on their side if they wind up playing Seattle. The Sonics have been upset in the first round of the playoffs the past two seasons. “Going by their track record, I’m very optimistic,” the Kings’ Olden Polynice said.

Notes

Tickets for the Sonics’ first-round home playoff games go on sale today at 10 a.m. Tickets for the first two games, Games “A” and Games “B,” will go on sale at all Ticketmaster outlets.

Tickets are priced at $104, $69, $49, $40, $32, $27, $19 and $13.

SuperSonics 108, Kings 89

FG FT Reb SACRAMENTO Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Grant 26 4-8 0-0 0-5 0 3 8 Polynice 26 5-10 0-0 4-6 1 4 10 Causwell 17 0-5 0-0 1-1 1 5 0 Edney 22 2-6 2-2 1-1 1 0 7 Richmond 20 1-11 4-5 1-3 3 2 6 Simmons 30 6-13 2-2 0-4 4 1 19 Smith 29 7-8 1-3 1-5 2 4 15 Hurley 26 2-5 1-2 0-2 6 3 7 Williamson 29 7-8 3-6 2-4 3 4 17 Gamble 15 0-3 0-0 0-3 2 0 0 Totals 240 34-77 13-20 10-34 23 26 89

Percentages: FG .442, FT .650.

3-Point Goals: 8-20, .400 (Simmons 5-9, Hurley 2-3, Edney 1-2, Gamble 0-1, Richmond 0-5).

Team Rebounds: 10.

Blocked shots: 7 (Grant 3, Smith 2, Polynice, Causwell).

Turnovers: 24 (Richmond 4, Edney 3, Smith 3, Hurley 3, Williamson 3, Gamble 2, Grant 2, Simmons 2, Polynice, Causwell).

Steals: 7 (Smith 3, Williamson 2, Polynice, Edney).

Technical fouls: Polynice, 9:43 second; Richmond, 7:41 third.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 30 6-9 7-7 2-11 5 2 19 Schrempf 29 6-10 7-8 3-5 4 4 20 Johnson 28 7-9 0-0 2-12 0 3 14 Hawkins 27 4-12 4-4 1-1 1 0 14 Payton 29 4-7 0-0 1-1 7 2 8 Askew 19 5-7 4-4 1-1 0 2 15 McMillan 23 0-5 0-0 1-3 7 2 0 Perkins 13 1-7 0-0 1-2 0 3 3 Brickowski 16 1-1 0-0 0-1 1 3 2 Snow 10 3-4 1-2 1-2 2 3 7 Wingate 10 2-4 0-0 0-0 0 0 4 Scheffler 6 1-3 0-0 0-1 0 0 2 Totals 240 40-78 23-25 13-40 27 24 108

Percentages: FG .513, FT .920.

3-Point Goals: 5-16, .313 (Hawkins 2-4, Askew 1-2, Perkins 1-2, Schrempf 1-3, Snow 0-1, McMillan 0-4).

Team Rebounds: 6.

Blocked shots: 7 (Johnson 5, Kemp, McMillan).

Turnovers: 18 (Johnson 4, Hawkins 3, Payton 2, Askew 2, Brickowski 2, Wingate 2, Kemp, McMillan, Schrempf).

Steals: 17 (Hawkins 4, Johnson 3, McMillan 3, Payton 2, Brickowski 2, Schrempf, Snow, Wingate).

Technical fouls: Payton, 1:15 second.

Flagrant fouls: Brickowski, 4:02 second.

Illegal defense: 1.

Sacramento 17 25 19 28 - 89

Seattle 29 28 29 22 - 108

A-17,072 (17,072). T-2:05.

Officials-Jack Nies, Don Vaden, Leroy Richardson.