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Sonics’ Win Streak Hits Seven

Associated Press

Seattle’s Gary Payton said he lived on his defense Thursday night. The Miami Heat ended up dying by it.

Payton came up with a crucial jump ball and then made three free throws late in the fourth quarter as Seattle won its seventh straight game, beating Miami 84-81. The hot Supersonics now head to play Orlando Friday night.

“I knew my offensive game was off tonight, I wasn’t scoring,” said Payton, who had 18 points but was only 5 of 18 from the field. “My job tonight was to play defense. I felt I had to live off my D.”

With 25 seconds left and the Sonics leading 81-78, Payton forced Keith Askins into a jump ball.

“I knew they were going for the 3-pointer,” Payton said. “When he put the ball on the floor I knew I had get down and get it.”

On the ensuing jump ball, Miami’s Kevin Willis appeared to have control, but the ball skirted loose and Payton came up with it and drew a foul. He hit both shots to put the Sonics up 83-78.

Askins hit a 3-pointer to pull the Heat to 83-81 and Payton countered with a free throw. Miami had a chance to send the game into overtime, but Rex Chapman’s 3-point shot went askew after he collided with Hersey Hawkins while shooting.

Both teams shot miserably. Miami connected on 29 of 78 shots for 37 percent, while Seattle hit 27 of 77 for 35 percent. In the end, it became a game of free throws and the Sonics won that matchup, sinking 26 of 30 from the line to Miami’s 20 of 29.

“We didn’t do a good job on their press and they didn’t do a good job on our press,” Seattle coach George Karl said. “It was a defensive tossup.”

Shawn Kemp led the Sonics with 21 points. He connected on two free throws with 2:55 left to put the Sonics ahead 79-77, and his layup made it 81-78 with 1:49 left.

Miami was led by Willis, who scored a season-high 25 points and pulled down 15 rebounds. Kurt Thomas and Billy Owens each scored 16.

Neither team could shake each other after building leads in the first three quarters. Miami opened a 10-2 lead, but Seattle came back behind Hawkins’ 11 first-quarter points to knot the game 27-27.

In the second and third quarters, Seattle nursed leads as large as nine points, but tenacious rebounding by Miami - the Heat won the battle of the boards 50-41 - helped it back into the game. The Sonics led 67-65 going into the fourth.

Miami coach Pat Riley said the Heat have to step up their outside shooting after connecting on only eight of 35 shots from the perimeter.

“You hold it a little longer and then lose that opportunity,” Riley said. “There must have been a dozen good looks that we should have taken.” xxxx SuperSonics 84, Heat 81 FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts McMillan 34 0-5 0-0 1-4 5 4 0 Kemp 34 6-17 9-9 4-13 1 5 21 Perkins 32 4-10 0-0 1-5 1 4 9 Hawkins 36 6-12 6-6 2-6 2 2 19 Payton 37 5-18 7-8 2-2 5 4 18 Askew 33 3-9 1-4 1-4 1 1 7 Brickowski 22 2-5 3-3 1-4 1 4 7 Johnson 3 0-0 0-0 1-1 0 1 0 Wingate 8 1-1 0-0 0-2 0 0 3 Snow 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 27-77 26-30 13-41 16 25 84 Percentages: FG .351, FT .867. 3-Point Goals: 4-18, .222 (Wingate 1-1, Payton 1-4, Perkins 1-4, Hawkins 1-5, McMillan 0-1, Askew 0-1, Brickowski 0-2). Team Rebounds: 8. Blocked shots: 9 (Kemp 6, Perkins, Payton, Johnson). Turnovers: 10 (Hawkins 3, Perkins 2, Payton 2, McMillan, Askew, Brickowski). Steals: 13 (Perkins 4, Hawkins 3, McMillan 2, Payton 2, Askew, Brickowski). Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 4:55 second; Illegal defense, 8:11 third. Illegal defense: 1. FG FT Reb MIAMI Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Owens 41 6-17 4-4 4-9 5 2 16 Thomas 29 6-10 4-8 2-6 1 6 16 Willis 39 9-16 7-10 4-15 0 3 25 Gamble 21 2-4 0-0 0-3 0 3 5 Coles 42 1-12 5-7 1-6 6 4 7 Chapman 14 0-5 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 Askins 27 3-8 0-0 1-5 1 5 8 Schayes 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 Myers 23 2-6 0-0 1-6 3 1 4 Totals 240 29-78 20-29 13-50 16 27 81 Percentages: FG .372, FT .690. 3-Point Goals: 3-16, .188 (Askins 2-5, Gamble 1-3, Owens 0-1, Coles 0-3, Chapman 0-4). Team Rebounds: 13. Blocked shots: 6 (Askins 3, Owens, Thomas, Coles). Turnovers: 13 (Owens 3, Thomas 2, Coles 2, Chapman 2, Myers 2, Willis, Gamble). Steals: 5 (Willis 2, Owens, Gamble, Coles). Technical fouls: None. Illegal defense: None. Seattle 27 19 21 17 - 84 Miami 27 18 20 16 - 81 A-14,964 (15,200). T-2:16. Officials-Joe Crawford, Ed F. Rush, Luis Grillo.