Johnson Shines For Sonics Center Drops In Career-High 28 As Seattle Whips Minnesota

The Seattle SuperSonics, chronically deficient at center, have a fresh candidate for more playing time in the middle.

Ervin Johnson scored a career-high 28 points, including 18 in the fourth quarter, as the Sonics routed the Minnesota Timberwolves 130-93 Wednesday night.

Did he earn himself any more playing time from coach George Karl, who also uses Sam Perkins and Frank Brickowski in the middle? “I told Ervin after the game I’m still not going to run any plays for him,” Karl said with a smile. “We have a lot of post players. I don’t know if Ervin moved up.”

“Sam and the guys were rooting for me,” an elated Johnson said. “I felt good tonight.”

It was Seattle’s 19th consecutive victory over Minnesota.

The Sonics’ 130 points were a season high, and the 37-point win was their second biggest of the season. The Timberwolves lost by their third largest magin in franchise history.

Johnson, a third-year center who was the 23rd player picked in the 1993 NBA draft, also pulled down a dozen rebounds for his second career double-double. He shot 10-for-16 from the floor before fouling out with 11.8 seconds to go.

Christian Laettner had 19 points for the Wolves.

“We did some trapping and it opened up some lanes,” Wolves coach Flip Saunders said of Johnson’s performance. “And once you’re up 20, it’s easy to make a basket.”

“It was a good performance,” Minnesota’s Sean Rooks said of Johnson. “It was his night.”

It wasn’t Minnesota’s night. The Wolves had a season-high 27 turnovers that led to 38 Seattle points. And their 23 rebounds were a season low, one more than their franchise low of 22 set in 1994 against the New York Knicks. They tied a franchise low with three offensive rebounds.

Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp sat out the final quarter after the Sonics built a 97-65 lead in the first three periods. Kemp finished with 21 points and Payton had a dozen assists.

Seattle’s 35 assists were a season high. The Sonics shot 59 percent, their second highest this season.

The crowd - many of whom left during the final quarter - cheered wildly for Johnson, averaging only 4.2 points going into the game. Johnson, who also had five blocked shots, sank his first career 3-pointer in the fourth quarter. Johnson’s previous career high was 15 points.

“We wanted to get him 30 points,” Hersey Hawkins of the Sonics said. “But they didn’t want to give up 30.”

Johnson wanted to talk about his 3-pointer.

“I never shot a 3 before in my career,” he said. “Sam told me to shoot it. So that 3 was for Sam.”

David Wingate of Seattle and Minnesota’s Mark Davis were ejected with 5:36 left after they got into a skirmish near the Wolves’ basket. The pair had to be separated and were each assessed with technicals.

SuperSonics 130, Timberwolves 93

FG FT Reb MINNESOTA Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Garnett 29 4-6 2-4 1-6 2 2 10 Gugliotta 33 5-8 3-3 0-3 1 2 13 Laettner 32 6-11 7-8 1-4 2 3 19 Martin 20 2-3 0-0 0-0 5 4 5 Rider 24 4-12 2-3 0-1 4 3 11 Porter 16 3-6 0-0 0-1 2 4 7 Mitchell 9 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 1 0 Rooks 14 3-4 1-2 0-2 1 5 7 West 26 3-5 3-3 0-1 1 2 9 Davis 13 1-2 0-0 1-2 1 1 2 Bragg 12 2-4 0-0 0-2 0 2 4 Allen 12 2-3 1-2 0-0 3 2 6 Totals 240 35-65 19-25 3-23 23 31 93 Percentages: FG .538, FT .760.

3-Point Goals: 4-10, .400 (Martin 1-1, Allen 1-1, Porter 1-3, Rider 1-4, Garnett 0-1). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 7 (West 3, Rooks 2, Laettner, Garnett). Turnovers: 27 (Rider 5, Davis 4, Laettner 4, Mitchell 3, Martin 3, Gugliotta 2, West 2, Allen 2, Porter, Garnett). Steals: 11 (Garnett 2, Gugliotta 2, Laettner, Martin, Rider, Mitchell, Rooks, Bragg, Allen). Technical fouls: Coach Saunders, 11:18 fourth; Davis, 5:36 fourth. Flagrant fouls: Martin, 4:40 second. Ejections: Davis, 5:36 fourth. Illegal defense: None.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 27 8-11 5-5 1-6 1 3 21 Schrempf 26 7-10 2-2 0-5 3 0 16 Johnson 33 10-16 7-8 5-12 0 6 28 Hawkins 35 7-12 0-0 0-1 5 4 16 Payton 32 3-8 4-4 1-4 12 1 11 Askew 26 3-5 3-4 1-1 4 3 9 McMillan 8 0-0 0-0 0-1 4 1 0 Perkins 13 2-3 0-0 0-0 2 0 4 Brickowski 9 4-6 5-5 0-0 0 1 14 Wingate 9 1-1 1-1 0-1 1 2 3 Snow 12 2-4 2-4 0-4 3 1 6 Ford 10 0-4 2-2 0-0 0 1 2 Totals 240 47-80 31-35 8-35 35 23 130 Percentages: FG .580, FT .886. 3-Point Goals: 5-14, .357 (Hawkins 2-6, Johnson 1-1, Brickowski 1-2, Payton 1-3, Snow 0-1, Schrempf 0-1). Team Rebounds: 10. Blocked shots: 5 (Johnson 5). Turnovers: 20 (Kemp 4, Schrempf 4, Payton 3, Snow 2, Johnson, Hawkins, Askew, Perkins, Brickowski, Wingate, team). Steals: 16 (McMillan 4, Payton 3, Kemp 2, Hawkins 2, Askew 2, Schrempf, Snow, Ford). Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 10:43 second; Wingate, 5:36 fourth. Ejections: Wingate, 5:367 fourth. Illegal defense: 1. Minnesota 23 20 22 28 - 93 Seattle 31 30 36 33 - 130 A-16,260 (17,072). T-2:09.

Officials-Jess Kersey, Bernie Fryer, Monte McCutchen.