Reserve Stars In Sonics Win Brickowski Pours In 21 Points As Seattle Makes It Six Straight

Big scoring nights are few and far between for Frank Brickowski.

Brickowski had a season-high 21 points Tuesday night as the Sonics won their sixth straight, beating the Hawks 111-88.

“Did I really have that many?” said Brickowski, a 12th-year journeyman averaging 5.1 points a game.

“It just happened they left me open a few times, and I had it going from the corner,” he said. “This is an aberration. Usually, I bring a lot more defense than offense to this club. This is a good way to start off the new year.”

“The Brick Man was on,” teammate Shawn Kemp said. “He can be very dangerous when he’s got his outside shot. He was scoring from everywhere tonight.”

The six victories comprise Seattle’s longest win streak since winning seven games last March.

The Hawks have lost three straight and four of their last five games. Since Dec. 1, Atlanta is 4-11. The 23-point margin was the Hawks’ biggest of the season. They lost by 21 to Golden State on Dec. 29.

Kemp had 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Hersey Hawkins had 17 points, five steals and four assists as the SuperSonics increased their Pacific Division lead to 2-1/2 games.

Atlanta’s Andrew Lang, hitting 14 of 19 shots, scored a career-high 29 points. Grant Long added 15 points and 11 rebounds.

The Sonics shot 53 percent from the field and hit 10-of-25 3-pointers.

They held their opponents under 50 percent shooting for the 27th time in 29 games. The Hawks’ leading scorer, Steve Smith, made only 4 of 13 shots and finished with eight points, almost 10 below his average.

Long scored six points as the Hawks surged to a 16-8 lead 6 minutes into the game. A 14-4 run put the Sonics ahead 22-20 at the end of the period. They didn’t trail again.

“Seattle’s definitely one of the best teams in the league. They’re very explosive,” Atlanta coach Lenny Wilkens said. “Once they got up, they weren’t going to give us a chance.”

3-Point Goals: 10-25, .400 (Hawkins 3-6, Brickowski 2-3, Payton 2-5, Kemp 1-1, Wingate 1-1, Perkins 1-4, Ford 0-1, McMillan 0-2, Askew 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 4.

Blocked shots: 5 (Johnson 3, McMillan 2).

Turnovers: 17 (Kemp 3, Johnson 3, Hawkins 2, Payton 2, Wingate 2, McMillan, Askew, Scheffler, Snow, Ford).

Steals: 13 (Hawkins 5, Payton 2, McMillan 2, Kemp, Askew, Brickowski, Wingate).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 5:05 first; Illegal defense, 3:53 first; Illegal defense, 5:51 second; Illegal defense, 4:13 second; Illegal defense, 5:49 fourth.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb ATLANTA Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Augmon 34 2-6 2-2 1-6 2 4 6 Long 38 6-8 3-3 0-11 0 2 15 Lang 36 14-19 1-2 2-7 2 3 29 Smith 31 4-13 0-3 5-7 5 2 8 Blaylock 29 6-11 0-0 0-3 4 1 16 Ehlo 20 2-10 0-0 1-2 3 2 5 Henderson 18 1-5 0-2 4-4 0 2 2 Bullard 9 0-3 1-2 1-1 1 1 1 Webb 21 1-5 4-5 0-3 3 1 6 Mundt 4 0-2 0-0 1-1 0 0 0 Totals 240 36-82 11-19 15-45 20 18 88

Percentages: FG .439, FT .579.

3-Point Goals: 5-19, .263 (Blaylock 4-7, Ehlo 1-2, Bullard 0-1, Webb 0-2, Smith 0-7).

Team Rebounds: 5.

Blocked shots: 2 (Lang, Blaylock).

Turnovers: 21 (Webb 4, Augmon 3, Long 3, Lang 3, Smith 3, Ehlo 3, Blaylock, Henderson).

Steals: 10 (Blaylock 3, Augmon 2, Long, Smith, Ehlo, Bullard, Webb).

Technical foul: Smith, :31.9 third.

Illegal defense: 1.

Seattle 22 34 24 31 - 111

Atlanta 20 19 27 22 - 88

A-8,524 (16,365). T-1:59.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: SuperSonics 111, Hawks 88 FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts McMillan 33 2-9 0-0 1-5 6 3 4 Kemp 32 6-9 4-4 3-12 3 3 17 Perkins 19 1-6 0-0 0-2 1 0 3 Hawkins 26 8-12 0-0 0-2 4 2 19 Payton 32 4-13 2-3 2-4 6 2 12 Askew 25 6-8 2-2 0-4 3 1 14 Brickowski 25 7-10 5-7 1-5 3 5 21 Wingate 22 3-5 1-1 0-2 2 2 8 Johnson 16 3-3 2-2 1-1 0 3 8 Scheffler 4 0-0 1-2 1-1 0 0 1 Snow 4 0-0 2-2 0-2 1 2 2 Ford 2 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 2 Totals 240 41-77 19-23 9-40 29 23 111 Percentages: FG .532, FT .826.