Sonics Make It Eight Straight Payton, Kemp Help Seattle Top Short-Handed Golden State
Unhappy Rony Seikaly remains with the Golden State Warriors - at least until this summer.
Even without disgruntled teammate Tim Hardaway, it’s going to an interesting final two months of the season for the Warriors. Seikaly and coach Rick Adelman still haven’t had their last words.
Despite having only nine players available Thursday night, Golden State Adelman played Seikaly only three minutes in the second half of a 106-90 loss to the Seattle SuperSonics.
“When you play Shawn Kemp, you have to play with a little bit of energy,” Adelman said, explaining his decision to bench Seikaly most of the second half. “Seikaly has to help win games, but he can’t if he’s not playing aggressively.”
Seikaly, who said he expected to be traded before Thursday’s trading deadline, disagreed with Adelman’s assessment.
“I guess I’ll have to be the good soldier and go into battle when I get called in,” he said. “But I wish people would stop analyzing body language and hair style.”
In 18 minutes, Seikaly scored only six points and got only five shots. He has complained this season, his second at Golden State and first under Adelman, about not getting enough shots in Adelman’s offense.
“I’m not happy because I’m not helping my team,” Seikaly said. “Maybe this is not the right team.”
It’s too late now, though. Because the trading deadline is past, the eight-year veteran from Syracuse has to play or sit on the bench at least through April - or the playoffs.
The Sonics got 19 points from Gary Payton and 18 from Shawn Kemp, their two All-Stars, in winning their season-high eighth in a row.
B.J. Armstrong had a season-high 27 points for the Warriors, who also got 18 points and 10 rebounds from rookie Joe Smith.
Seattle’s Nate McMillan said Armstrong, without Hardaway, looked like a completely different player.
“I’ve never seen B.J. be so aggressive with his game,” McMillan said. “I’m sure he felt the pressure when Timmy was there talking about his situation. In fact, they all (the Warriors) looked relieved and real lose to me.”
The Sonics improved their best-in-the-West record to 40-12, including 24-2 at home.
xxxx SuperSonics 106, Warriors 90 FG FT Reb GOLDEN STATE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kersey 22 5-9 0-0 1-2 2 3 10 Smith 38 5-14 8-9 4-10 2 2 18 Seikaly 18 3-5 0-2 0-1 0 3 6 Armstrong 41 10-20 5-6 0-4 6 1 27 Sprewell 46 2-13 1-3 3-7 6 1 5 Rozier 25 6-7 1-6 3-7 0 3 13 Barry 20 1-4 2-2 1-1 0 3 5 Marshall 18 2-8 2-3 2-5 1 5 6 DeClercq 12 0-4 0-2 1-5 1 0 0 Totals 240 34-84 19-33 15-42 18 21 90 Percentages: FG .405, FT .576. 3-Point Goals: 3-16, .188 (Armstrong 2-6, Barry 1-3, Kersey 0-1, Smith 0-1, Marshall 0-2, Sprewell 0-3). Team Rebounds: 12. Blocked shots: 4 (Smith 2, Kersey, Marshall). Turnovers: 20 (Barry 5, Smith 3, Armstrong 3, Seikaly 2, Sprewell 2, Rozier 2, Marshall 2, Kersey). Steals: 13 (Barry 3, Smith 2, Seikaly 2, Sprewell 2, Armstrong, Rozier, Marshall, DeClercq). Technical fouls: Kersey, 8:37 third. Illegal defense: None. FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 31 7-10 4-6 3-10 0 4 18 Schrempf 31 3-10 4-4 0-5 6 3 10 Johnson 26 4-8 3-5 4-11 0 0 11 Hawkins 27 5-7 3-3 1-6 4 1 16 Payton 33 8-16 2-2 0-3 7 4 19 McMillan 9 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 3 Askew 25 2-3 0-0 1-8 6 4 4 Perkins 22 5-12 1-1 0-1 1 2 13 Brickowski 12 1-2 1-2 0-3 1 2 3 Wingate 13 2-6 0-0 0-1 2 2 4 Snow 6 1-3 3-3 0-0 1 0 5 Ford 5 0-1 0-2 0-0 0 1 0 Totals 240 39-79 21-28 9-48 28 25 106 Percentages: FG .494, FT .750. 3-Point Goals: 7-16, .438 (Hawkins 3-4, Perkins 2-6, McMillan 1-1, Payton 1-3, Brickowski 0-1, Snow 0-1). Team Rebounds: 9. Blocked shots: 4 (Johnson 3, Askew). Turnovers: 21 (Payton 4, Schrempf 4, Kemp 3, Perkins 3, Johnson 2, Brickowski 2, Hawkins, Askew, Team). Steals: 13 (Hawkins 4, Askew 2, Payton 2, Perkins 2, Kemp, McMillan, Snow). Technical fouls: None. Illegal defense: None. Golden State 19 21 23 27 - 90 Seattle 25 30 24 27 - 106 A-17,072 (17,072). T-2:03.