Sonics Extinguish Heat Seattle Adds To Riley’s Bad Day With A Long, Very Bad Evening
Pat Riley sounded discouraged, and he should have been. The Miami Heat played that poorly.
“It was an ugly night with no effort,” Riley said after watching his team lose to the Seattle SuperSonics 113-81 Friday night.
“We worked the last practice and a half on playing with a high level of energy and efficiency against a great team. We weren’t even close.”
Miami’s third straight loss ended a long day for Riley. He was fined $10,000 by the NBA for criticizing the referees after the Heat’s 90-89 loss in Portland on Wednesday night.
“That’s a whole other issue,” Riley said about the fine. “I don’t have anything to say about that.”
The Sonics, just back from a 4-2, 12-day road trip in which they were snowed out of a game in New York, had plenty of energy and efficiency, Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton in particular.
Kemp had 27 points and 13 rebounds and Payton added 22. But the star of the night as far as the Key Arena crowd of 17,072 was concerned was Steve Scheffler, who made his first career 3-pointer in a 29-12 Sonics’ fourth quarter.
Scheffler, Seattle’s little-used fourth-string center and a six-year veteran, scored eight points in the fourth quarter.
Afterwards, he ran jubliantly down the court and gave a high five to Kemp, who was standing on the sideline.
Alonzo Mourning led the Heat with 29 points and eight rebounds, but Miami had little else going for it.”The secret is making him run a lot and getting him tired,” Kemp said. “I think he was very tired in the second half.”
Riley watched helplessly from the bench in the fourth quarter as Seattle pulled away and beat the Heat for the second time this month.
“If we have more efforts like this, we’re going to lose again and again and again,” a frustrated Mourning said. “It’s one thing to lose. It’s another thing to give up.”
The Sonics improved their homecourt record to 14-1 and went to 9-0 against the Heat on their home court.
Seattle bounced back after its most lopsided loss of the season, 113-87 in Chicago on Wednesday night.
“That’s just one game,” Kemp said. “It was discouraging, but you have to take it in stride.”
“I just didn’t expect this game,” Sonics coach George Karl said. “But it’s great to see.”
Miami shot only 36 percent and committed 28 fouls to Seattle’s 29. The Sonics shot 52 percent and outrebounded the Heat 48-34.
Seattle broke open the game in the third quarter as Payton scored 12 points and Sam Perkins eight of his 16.
xxxx SuperSonics 113, Heat 81 FG FT Reb MIAMI Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Owens 23 2-11 0-0 1-3 2 4 4 Willis 22 0-1 0-0 2-7 0 6 0 Mourning 36 9-13 11-18 4-8 1 2 29 Chapman 21 3-11 0-0 0-3 3 1 8 Coles 36 4-11 4-5 0-5 6 4 12 Thomas 29 3-7 2-2 0-3 0 5 8 Rencher 20 1-3 4-7 1-1 1 1 6 Gamble 7 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Askins 26 1-5 0-0 1-2 2 4 2 Lenard 20 4-11 2-2 1-2 0 1 12 Totals 240 27-76 23-34 10-34 15 28 81 Percentages: FG .355, FT .676. 3-Point Goals: 4-23, .174 (Chapman 2-7, Lenard 2-8, Gamble 0-1, Mourning 0-2, Askins 0-2, Coles 0-3). Team Rebounds: 12. Blocked shots: 3 (Willis, Coles, Askins). Turnovers: 18 (Mourning 5, Thomas 4, Rencher 2, Willis 2, Owens, Chapman, Gamble, team 2). Steals: 10 (Thomas 4, Chapman 3, Mourning 2, Rencher). Technical fouls: Coles, 10:09 third; illegal defense, 8:19 fourth. Illegal defense: 1. FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 34 10-12 7-7 3-13 4 5 27 Perkins 32 5-11 4-7 0-7 4 3 15 Johnson 22 2-7 2-4 3-8 0 5 6 Hawkins 39 4-10 4-5 0-3 3 3 12 Payton 36 8-15 2-5 3-3 4 3 22 Brickowski 14 1-1 1-2 0-4 1 5 3 Askew 26 4-8 3-4 1-4 2 2 11 McMillan 17 1-3 0-0 0-0 5 1 3 Ford 9 3-7 0-0 2-3 1 0 6 Scheffler 6 3-3 1-1 2-2 0 0 8 Snow 5 0-1 0-0 1-1 3 2 0 Totals 240 41-78 24-35 15-48 27 29 113 Percentages: FG .526, FT .686. 3-Point Goals: 7-21, .333 (Payton 4-6, Scheffler 1-1, McMillan 1-3, Perkins 1-5, Snow 0-1, Ford 0-1, Askew 0-1, Hawkins 0-3). Team Rebounds: 14. Blocked shots: 2 (Perkins, Johnson). Turnovers: 22 (Kemp 7, Payton 5, McMillan 3, Perkins 2, Hawkins 2, Brickowski, team 2). Steals: 7 (Payton 3, Kemp 2, Hawkins, Brickowski). Technical foul: Kemp, 11:04 first. Illegal defense: None. Miami 27 20 22 12 - 81 Seattle 28 25 31 29 - 113 A-17,072 (17,072). T-2:16.