Magic Sub Helps Dunk Sonics Payton, Kemp Have Off Night As Orlando Easily Beats Seattle
Darrell Armstrong dunked on the Seattle SuperSonics - with authority.
Teammate Shaquille O’Neal missed nine free throws and still scored a season-high 38 points.
The seemingly perfect angle bank shots of Sonics guard Gary Payton wouldn’t fall, and his sidekick, Shawn Kemp, caught nothing but air on a scoop shot and nothing but rim on a dunk.
It was that kind of night for the Sonics, whose NBA-leading seven-game victory streak was decimated Friday by the Atlantic Division-leading Orlando Magic, 115-93, before a roaring crowd of 17,248.
Even when the Pacific Division-leading Sonics (22-9) pulled out of the Magic’s spell and cut the lead to 14 midway through the fourth quarter, the basketball gods weren’t smiling on the Sonics.
On a smooth drive to the basket and a dish-off to Nate McMillan for a layin that would have cut the lead to a dozen, Sam Perkins was whistled for an offensive foul, his sixth foul of the game.
The basket was waived off and Perkins was sent to the bench for only the 20th disqualification in his 2,367-game career.
The Magic (25-6) immediately seized momentum, scoring eight in a row to regain their comfortable lead, an advantage that allowed them to play Armstrong, their 12th man.
Armstrong’s dunk will stick in the Sonics’ craw just as the Sonics’ victories over the Magic last season were not easily forgotten. The triumph in Tacoma was a 40-point whipping and the victory in Orlando was one of only two Magic losses in the O-rena all season.
“Orlando is an explosive team and they play with a lot of pride,” Sonics coach George Karl observed. “We beat them here last year, so they came out tonight and made shots. We missed shots and we didn’t make it a defensive game, which is our strength.”
While improving their NBA-leading home winning streak to 25 games, the Magic outshot the Sonics, 54.3 percent to 36.8 percent.
The combination of superb play by Orlando and poor play by the Sonics, resulted in Seattle’s worst loss of the season.
“It was a good butt-whipping,” Karl said. “You’ve got to have a few of them to wake yourself up.”
On the defensive end, the only player the Sonics’ stopped was NBA Most Valuable Player candidate Anfernee Hardaway, whom Payton held to eight points - 17 below his average.
Hardaway, in turn, limited Payton to eight points, 11 below his average. Payton missed 11 of 15 field-goal attempts and his 28.2 percent shooting slump (13-for-46) stretched to three games.
The Magic also did a superb defensive job on Kemp, a 60-percent shooter, who finished 7-for-21 from the field.
On the offensive end, Orlando outshot the Sonics 63.2 percent to 31.1 percent in the first half to gain a 67-41 halftime lead.
In his finest game since his return from a thumb fracture three weeks ago, O’Neal was 16-for-22 from the field. He also grabbed 13 rebounds, blocked four shots, made four assists and attracted so much attention that Perkins fouled out, Ervin Johnson was whistled for five fouls and Kemp three. xxxx Magic 115, SuperSonics 93 FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts McMillan 29 3-6 0-0 2-7 5 1 7 Kemp 35 7-21 8-13 7-11 3 3 23 Johnson 16 0-5 1-2 1-6 1 5 1 Hawkins 36 10-17 2-2 2-4 2 3 25 Payton 36 4-15 0-0 3-5 5 0 8 Perkins 25 1-8 4-4 1-5 1 6 6 Askew 25 3-5 2-2 1-2 1 3 8 Wingate 20 2-4 0-0 0-4 1 4 6 Brickowski 9 1-3 0-0 0-3 0 1 3 Snow 3 1-2 1-2 0-1 0 0 3 Ford 3 0-1 3-4 0-1 1 1 3 Scheffler 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 32-87 21-29 17-50 20 27 93 Percentages: FG .368, FT .724. 3-Point Goals: 8-23, .348 (Hawkins 3-7, Wingate 2-3, Kemp 1-1, McMillan 1-2, Brickowski 1-2, Askew 0-1, Snow 0-1, Payton 0-2, Perkins 0-4). Team Rebounds: 7. Blocked shots: (Johnson 2). Turnovers: 15 (Kemp 4, Payton 3, Hawkins 2, Brickowski 2, Perkins, Askew, Snow, Ford). Steals: 7 (Kemp 2, Payton 2, McMillan, Hawkins, Askew). Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 7:17 third; Illegal defense, 5:18 third. Illegal defense: 1. FG FT Reb ORLANDO Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Scott 33 4-7 6-6 1-2 3 0 16 Grant 35 5-10 2-2 3-12 6 3 12 O’Neal 33 16-22 6-15 4-13 4 4 38 Anderson 30 2-5 2-6 0-4 3 3 7 Hardaway 34 2-9 4-5 1-3 3 2 8 Shaw 26 6-9 0-0 1-8 2 4 14 Koncak 15 4-5 0-0 0-0 2 4 8 Bowie 18 0-2 0-0 1-2 4 3 0 Vaughn 4 0-4 0-0 0-1 1 0 0 Royal 9 3-4 2-3 0-2 1 1 8 Armstrong 3 2-4 0-0 0-1 0 1 4 Totals 240 44-81 22-37 11-48 29 25 115 Percentages: FG .543, FT .595. 3-Point Goals: 5-13, .385 (Scott 2-3, Shaw 2-3, Anderson 1-3, Armstrong 0-1, Hardaway 0-3). Team Rebounds: 10. Blocked shots: 6 (O’Neal 4, Hardaway, Koncak). Turnovers: 19 (Hardaway 5, O’Neal 4, Shaw 4, Anderson 3, Grant, Bowie, Royal). Steals: 9 (Scott 3, Hardaway 2, Koncak 2, Grant, Bowie). Technical fouls: None. Illegal defense: 1. Seattle 22 19 33 19 - 93 Orlando 30 37 26 22 - 115 A-17,248 (17,248). T-2:07. Officials-Don Vaden, Jack Nies, Scott Foster.