Sonics Turn To The ‘Other’ Star Payton Fills Role As Leader

Winning without Shawn Kemp was the hard part. Now the Seattle SuperSonics get him back, but they still have to fight their history of failure.

Trying to overcome the bitter disappointment of first-round losses the past two seasons, the Sonics beat the Sacramento Kings 97-85 Friday night in a playoff opener.

Gary Payton, Seattle’s other All-Star, scored a career playoff-high 29 points in a 45-minute ironman performance in the absence of Kemp, who was forced to sit out the first playoff game after getting in a fight with Denver’s Tom Hammonds in the regular-season finale.

“When we get the big fella inside again, I’m going to get a chance to hit some 3s,” Hersey Hawkins said. “I’m looking forward to that.”

Detlef Schrempf scored 22 and Sam Perkins 17 for the Sonics, while Mitch Richmond led Sacramento with 18 points, but shot just 4 of 13 and was held scoreless in a pivotal opening quarter in which the Sonics scored the game’s first nine points. The Kings never recovered.

Game 2 of the best-of-five series is Sunday night.

“I think he’s going to be pretty hungry when he gets back in there,” Payton said of Kemp. “Don’t you?”

“It should make us better,” Schrempf said of Kemp’s return.

Payton, the NBA’s steals leader, had four of Seattle’s 10 steals. The Kings committed 23 turnovers.

Seattle, a loser to the Los Angeles Lakers in last year’s first round after bowing to No. 8-seed Denver two seasons ago, never trailed, but was outrebounded 42-27. Kemp was the league’s No. 4 rebounder with 11.4 rebounds a game.

“I thought we played very, very well,” said Nate McMillan of the Sonics. “I thought we got a little winded in the second half, but we withstood every run they took at us.”

Richmond, the league’s No. 8 scorer at 23.1 points a game, spent his 39 minutes looking at a bevy of tenacious Sonics defenders; Hawkins, Payton, McMillan and Vincent Askew. During the regular season, he averaged 19 points in Sacramento’s 0-4 effort against the Sonics.

“They play me as well as anybody in the league,” Richmond said. “It’s not always the first guy to you. Sometimes it’s their help defense. But I still like our chances.”

Payton had an 8-for-17 shooting night and was 12 of 16 from the freethrow line.

“I’ve been playing like this all year,” Payton said. “I’m never surprised by what Gary Payton can do. I might get 29 one night and eight the next. That’s just the way I play. I’ll score the number of points we need to win.”

The Sonics led 85-72 with 5 minutes, 33 seconds left after free throws by Schrempf and Payton, but Sacramento bounced back to cut the deficit to 85-78 on Grant’s free throw with 4:18 left.

McMillan hit a 3-pointer with 3:52 left to restore a 10-point lead, then Brian Grant’s dunk made it 88-80 with 3:39 left. Payton made two free throws with 3 minutes to go, Schrempf hit a 15-footer as the 24-second shot clock ran out with 2:17 left and Perkins scored a layup with 1:29 remaining for a 94-80 lead.

McMillan was a Sonics key, making 4 of 5 3-pointers for a dozen points. The rest of the Sonics were 4 for 13 on 3-pointers. Hawkins finished with nine points, 6.6 less than his regular-season scoring average.

“We’re not going to leave Detlef Schrempf or Hersey Hawkins open,” Sacramento’s Lionel Simmons said. “So you take a look at Seattle’s shooting percentages and take a chance. You’ve got to leave somebody open.”

Sacramento, with Richmond finally breaking out with 11 points in the third quarter, cut Seattle’s lead to seven points twice - 70-63 and 68-61.

Seattle held a 51-38 halftime lead as Payton scored 16.

Notes

The Sonics have never lost in the first round to a team they’ve swept during the regular season… . Sacramento averaged 17.6 turnovers a game during the regular season… . The Kings lost their 10th straight playoff game. The NBA record is 11, by New Jersey and Baltimore.

SuperSonics 97, Kings 85

FG FT Reb SACRAMENTO Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Grant 23 2-7 5-6 1-4 0 3 9 Owens 31 4-9 1-3 1-7 1 2 9 Polynice 38 7-11 0-1 4-9 0 4 15 Edney 29 7-12 2-2 0-2 2 6 16 Richmond 39 4-13 9-12 2-8 4 5 18 Simmons 22 3-6 0-0 0-4 2 4 7 Smith 17 2-2 0-0 1-4 2 3 4 Marciulionis 28 0-6 4-7 1-2 4 2 4 Gamble 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Causwell 12 0-1 3-4 1-2 0 1 3 Totals 240 29-67 24-35 11-42 15 30 85 Percentages: FG .433, FT .686.

3-Point Goals: 3-13, .231 (Polynice 1-1, Richmond 1-2, Simmons 1-3, Owens 0-1, Edney 0-2, Marciulionis 0-4).

Team Rebounds: 9.

Blocked shots: 4 (Polynice 2, Simmons, Grant).

Turnovers: 24 (Richmond 7, Grant 5, Simmons 3, Owens 2, Polynice 2, Edney 2, Marciulionis 2, team).

Steals: 6 (Marciulionis 2, Grant, Owens, Richmonds, Simmons).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 8:09 third; Illegal defense, 5:14 third; Owens, :05.4 third.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Perkins 36 7-13 0-1 0-6 1 3 17 Schrempf 38 9-18 4-6 1-2 3 3 22 Johnson 25 2-5 1-1 3-10 0 3 5 Hawkins 37 1-5 7-9 0-0 5 3 9 Payton 45 8-17 12-16 0-6 9 4 29 Askew 23 0-3 1-2 0-2 0 4 1 Brickowski 12 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 6 2 McMillan 23 4-6 0-0 0-1 5 1 12 Wingate 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 32-69 25-35 4-27 23 27 97 Percentages: FG .464, FT .714.

3-Point Goals: 8-18, .444 (McMillan 4-5, Perkins 3-6, Payton 1-3, Brickowski 0-1, Schrempf 0-1, Hawkins 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 14.

Blocked shots: 6 (Payton 2, Schrempf, Johnson, Askew, Brickowski).

Turnovers: 15 (Payton 4, Brickowski 3, Perkins 2, Schrempf 2, Johnson 2, Askew 2).

Steals: 10 (Payton 4, Perkins 2, Hawkins 2, Askew, Brickowski).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 7:08 second; Illegal defense, 5:30 second; Illegal defense, 7:19 third.

Illegal defense: 1.

Sacramento 13 25 26 21 - 85

Seattle 24 27 24 22 - 97

A-17,072 (17,072). T-2:31.