Sonics Outlast Rockets Seattle Rallies From 15 Down To Beat Houston In Overtime

The Seattle SuperSonics have the Houston Rockets’ number.

The Sonics came back from an early 15-point deficit and put away the Rockets 104-103 in overtime Saturday, notching their sixth straight victory over Houston.

“We just match up well with them and we do a lot of good things against them,” said Gary Payton, whose 32 points topped six Sonics in double figures. “The two years they’ve won (the NBA title), we had a good regular season against them, and I think if we’d play them in the playoffs, we probably would have had a real good series.”

Payton’s 3-pointer with 7.6 seconds left in overtime sealed the victory, the Sonics’ 19th in the last 22 games.

“Shawn (Kemp) got double-teamed. I knew as soon as he kicked it out to me, I was going to shoot the 3, and it felt real good when it left my hand,” Payton said.

“Payton was the difference,” said Houston’s Hakeem Olajuwon, who led all scorers with 36 points. “He made good decisions and hit some big baskets.”

The Sonics, whose 33-12 record is the best in the Western Conference, trailed by at least 10 for most of the game, but finally took the lead with 3:45 to go in the fourth quarter when Hersey Hawkins, who finished with 22 points, hit a pair of free throws after Sam Cassell fouled out.

“This was a good comeback victory for us,” said Kemp, who had 18 points and 16 rebounds. “Any time you beat the world champions at home, it’s always a confidence-builder.”

The score was tied three times in the final 5 minutes and neither team was able to go ahead by more than three points.

With the score 92-92, Mark Bryant’s layup attempt rolled out with 36 seconds to go. Detlef Schrempf then missed a 3-pointer for Seattle with 17.7 seconds left, and Clyde Drexler missed a 3-pointer as the clock was expiring in the fourth quarter.

“I thought they would trap like they did on every other possession,” Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. “Then Clyde is such a good passer, he would be able to drive to the basket or find the open man. They didn’t, so he took the open shot.”

“They came up with the big shot at the end,” said Drexler, who was in foul trouble much of the game and wound up with only seven points.

The Sonics took charge in the extra period with Payton hitting the first and last baskets.

Drexler was called for an offensive foul with 2:23 to go and picked up a technical foul when he complained about it. Hawkins converted the free throw to give the Sonics their largest lead at 99-94.

Houston got close when Olawjuwon hit a basket with 45 seconds to go to cut the Sonics lead to 101-100, but Payton responded with his 3-pointer to ice the game. Eldridge Recasner, who had a career-high 20 points, hit a 3-pointer for Houston with 3.7 seconds left to make it close at the end.

Sonics 104, Rockets 103 (OT)

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Schrempf 40 3-13 6-10 1-3 8 4 13 Kemp 42 4-12 8-9 4-18 3 2 16 Johnson 15 1-3 0-2 0-0 0 1 2 Hawkins 37 7-12 5-5 4-6 2 0 22 Payton 49 12-20 4-4 3-8 8 2 32 Askew 21 1-4 1-6 0-1 3 0 3 Perkins 30 4-11 2-2 1-2 0 1 13 McMillan 20 0-2 0-0 1-2 1 3 0 Brickowski 11 1-3 0-0 0-1 0 5 3 Totals 265 33-80 26-38 14-41 25 18 104

Percentages: FG .413, FT .684.

3-Point Goals: 12-28, .429 (Payton 4-6, Hawkins 3-6, Perkins 3-8, Brickowski 1-2, Schrempf 1-4, Askew 0-1, McMillan 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 13

Blocked shots: 5 (Johnson 2, Hawkins, Askew, Perkins).

Turnovers: 19 (Kemp 8, Payton 3, Hawkins 2, Brickowski 2, Schrempf, Johnson, Askew, Perkins).

Steals: 12 (Payton 4, Hawkins 3, Johnson 2, Kemp, Perkins, McMillan).

Technical fouls: None.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb HOUSTON Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Horry 48 5-14 2-2 2-2 6 3 16 Brown 18 5-8 1-1 2-5 0 4 11 Olajuwon 47 13-22 10-14 4-12 5 2 36 Drexler 37 1-8 4-4 2-7 7 5 7 Recasner 47 7-13 0-0 2-11 6 4 20 Cassell 27 3-11 0-0 0-0 4 6 7 Bryant 30 2-6 0-0 2-8 0 4 4 Jones 4 1-1 0-0 1-2 0 1 2 Breaux 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 Chilcutt 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 James 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 Totals 265 37-84 17-21 15-47 28 32 103

Percentages: FG .440, FT .810.

3-Point Goals: 12-33, .364 (Recasner 6-10, Horry 4-10, Drexler 1-6, Cassell 1-6, Breaux 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 9

Blocked shots: 7 (Horry 3, Drexler 2, Olajuwon, Bryant).

Turnovers: 20 (Horry 7, Brown 3, Olajuwon 3, Drexler 3, Cassell 2, Recasner, Breaux).

Steals: 10 (Horry 5, Olajuwon 3, Drexler 2).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense, :45.4, third; Olajuwon, 11:39 fourth; Horry, 9:43 fourth; Drexler, 2:23 OT.

Illegal defense: 1.

Seattle 16 27 26 23 12 - 104

Houston 27 22 24 19 11 - 103

A-16,285 (16,285). T-2:38.

Officials-Jack Nies, Ron Olesiak, Monte McCutcheon.