Payton Paces Sonics Seattle Star Puts 76ers Rookie Iverson In His Place In 118-94 Win

The reigning defensive player of the year met the likely rookie of the year, and Gary Payton was years ahead of Allen Iverson.

Payton got the better of Iverson in nearly every facet of the game, scoring a teamhigh 26 points Monday night as the Seattle Super-Sonics defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 118-94.

Sam Perkins added 22 points on 9-of-10 shooting and Shawn Kemp had 21 points and 15 rebounds, but it was Payton who turned the game Seattle’s way by dominating Iverson in the third quarter.

Payton shot 12 of 18 from the field with four assists, five rebounds, two steals and two turnovers. He spent the entire fourth quarter on the bench with Seattle comfortably ahead.

Iverson had four of his seven turnovers in the first 6 minutes of the game. The speedy rookie from Georgetown had 11 assists, but shot just 4 of 17 from the field and failed to stop Payton every time they faced off one-on-one.

“I won’t rate him, that’s not my job, but it’s a good night when you cause that many turnovers,” Payton said. “He’s got to learn to be more in control and make less turnovers, but he’s going to be OK once he gets two or three years under his belt.”

Payton, one of the league’s better-known trash-talkers, kept his mouth shut most of the game. Instead, he let his play do the talking.

“I would have yapped right back, but I played a bad game and it would have been ignorant to yap back,” Iverson said. “He played well, I didn’t. I shot terribly and didn’t help us at all.”

Detlef Schrempf contributed 14 points and eight assists and backup point guard Eric Snow had 11 points and eight assists for Seattle, which shot 58 percent.

Mark Davis led Philadelphia with 20 points and Jerry Stackhouse had 19. Stackhouse strained his lower back and played only briefly in the second half.

The matchup between Payton and Iverson didn’t heat up until late in the second quarter when the Sonics started isolating Payton in the low post.

Payton scored twice in a row on such plays, then made a jumper, tipped in a missed shot and drove right around Iverson for a layup that put Seattle ahead 57-51 with 1:11 left before the half.

“Nobody’s ever posted me up that much in a game before,” Iverson said, “but one game can’t make me lose my confidence. I still have all the confidence in the world.”

Philadelphia stayed close by shooting 52 percent in the first half, although Iverson was just 3 for 10 with five turnovers. Payton shot 7 for 11 and had 16 points, including 12 in the second quarter.

Payton again dominated the matchup early in the third quarter, scoring six points in a 13-6 run that gave Seattle its first double-digit lead.

Payton scored the first two points of the quarter on a fastbreak layup, then stole the ball from Iverson and left a drop pass that Schrempf turned into another transition basket. He then scored consecutive baskets on a tip-in and a scoop shot in the lane while Iverson was still downcourt complaining about a non-call he thought should have been goaltending.

The Sixers pulled within six points twice more in the third quarter, but Seattle opened a 12-point lead by the end of the quarter and led by at least nine the rest of the way.

“Their defense in the third quarter was exceptional, and we didn’t respond to it,” Sixers coach Johnny Davis said. “They had full control of the game in the second half.”

Notes

Former Sixers star World B. Free got a nice ovation from the crowd on his 43rd birthday. … Seattle coach George Karl said backup guard Nate McMillan should be ready to come off the injured list for Wednesday’s game at New Jersey. … The 76ers’ attendance is up more than 3,000 per game from last season, but they still have not had a sellout in the new CoreStates Center. … All five Sixers starters scored in double figures - the first time this season that has happened.

SuperSonics 118, 76ers 94

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Schrempf 32 5-11 3-4 1-4 8 2 14 Kemp 32 8-12 5-10 5-15 2 4 21 McIlvaine 26 4-6 1-2 4-4 0 2 9 Hawkins 26 2-7 1-2 0-2 6 1 5 Payton 28 12-18 2-2 2-5 4 3 26 Snow 26 5-6 1-1 0-2 8 2 11 Perkins 25 9-10 0-1 1-5 2 1 22 Stewart 12 1-3 0-0 1-1 0 1 2 Ehlo 22 3-7 0-0 1-3 2 3 6 Graham 5 0-2 0-0 1-2 0 1 0 Harvey 4 0-0 2-2 1-2 0 0 2 Wingate 2 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 49-85 15-24 17-45 32 20 118 Percentages: FG .576, FT .625.

3-Point Goals: 5-17, .294 (Perkins 4-5, Schrempf 1-3, Stewart 0-1, Ehlo 0-1, Graham 0-1, Hawkins 0-3, Payton 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 9

Blocked shots: 8 (McIlvaine 6, Kemp 2).

Turnovers: 12 (Kemp 5, Payton 2, Snow 2, McIlvaine, Perkins, Ehlo).

Steals: 9 (Payton 2, Schremp, Kemp, McIlvaine, Hawkins, Perkins, Stewart, Ehlo).

Technical fouls: Kemp 7:16 fourth.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb PHILADELPHIA Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Weatherspoon 36 5-8 1-4 2-4 4 3 11 Coleman 33 6-14 0-0 4-9 2 5 13 Williams 30 5-7 2-2 2-6 0 3 12 Stackhouse 26 6-9 4-5 0-3 6 1 19 Iverson 41 4-17 3-6 1-2 11 1 12 Davis 32 8-12 1-1 2-4 5 5 20 Harris 22 1-5 1-1 0-1 0 2 3 Overton 7 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 2 Cage 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Hendrickson 5 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 1 0 Bradtke 5 1-4 0-0 0-1 0 0 2 Totals 240 37-78 12-19 12-32 30 21 94 Percentages: FG .474, FT .632.

3-Point Goals: 8-21, .381 (Stackhouse 3-3, Davis 3-5, Coleman 1-3, Iverson 1-9, Harris 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 7

Blocked shots: 6 (Stackhouse 2, Coleman, Davis, Harris, Hendrickson).

Turnovers: 20 (Iverson 7, Coleman 3, Stackhouse 3, Overton 2, Weatherspoon, Williams, Davis, Harris, Cage).

Steals: 5 (Harris 2, Weatherspoon, Williams, Iverson).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense 1:23 third

Illegal defense: 1.

Seattle 31 26 32 29 - 118

Philadelphia 25 28 24 17 - 94

A-15,505 (21,000). T-2:04.