Sonics Wrap Up Honors For Karl

For the second time in three years, Seattle’s George Karl will coach the West in the All-Star game.

The SuperSonics clinched the Western Conference’s best first-half record, sending Karl back to coach in the All-Star game Feb. 11 in San Antonio, with an 86-79 victory over Denver on Wednesday night.

“It’ll feel great to have George and all our coaches down there with me,” said the Sonics’ Shawn Kemp, likely to be named a starter on Thursday. “It just means I’m going to be more comfortable.”

“My staff deserves it,” Karl said. “I think they’re the best staff in basketball and they deserve to go. It’s a real honor, but the team deserves all the credit.”

Karl coached the West in a loss to the East in Minneapolis in 1994.

The Sonics handed Denver its fifth straight loss and went 3-0 against the Nuggets this season. Seattle has beaten the Nuggets six out of seven since Denver shocked the Sonics as a No. 8 seed in the first round of the 1994 playoffs.

With Shawn Kemp in foul trouble and Gary Payton hitting only three of 16 shots, Sam Perkins led the Sonics with 18 points.

“I thought the key to the game was Sam Perkins,” Karl said. “I thought he was fantastic. I thought he was the old Sam tonight.”

The Nuggets got 17 points from Dale Ellis, but Ellis hits only one of eight from 3-point range.

Denver had a season-high 27 turnovers and lost starting point guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf with a bruised right leg.

The Nuggets fell eight games under .500 for the first time this season.

Seattle won despite scoring its second-lowest point total of the season. The teams combined for only 27 points in the final quarter.

“Our problem is not the lineup, it’s the decisions we continue to make,” Denver coach Bernie Bickerstaff said.

After missing 19 games because of a broken bone in his left leg, Detlef Schrempf returned to Seattle’s lineup. He finished with seven points in 13 minutes.

SuperSonics 86, Nuggets 79

FG FT Reb DENVER Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts D.Ellis 38 7-16 2-3 0-4 5 3 17 McDyess 36 6-8 4-4 0-5 1 5 16 Mutombo 27 3-4 2-2 2-13 4 5 8 Abdul-Rauf 12 1-7 0-0 0-0 1 0 2 Stith 33 4-10 2-2 1-3 1 1 12 L.Ellis 24 2-5 6-6 2-6 0 5 10 Rose 31 1-4 0-0 0-0 7 1 3 Williams 19 3-6 1-2 1-5 2 4 8 Hammonds 6 0-0 1-2 0-0 0 2 1 Overton 14 1-3 0-0 0-0 1 2 2 Totals 240 28-63 18-21 6-36 22 28 79

Percentages: FG .444, FT .857.

3-Point Goals: 5-18, .278 (Stith 2-4, Rose 1-2, Williams 1-3, D.Ellis 1-8, Abdul-Rauf 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 6.

Blocked shots: 6 (Mutombo 4, McDyess, Williams).

Turnovers: 27 (Rose 6, D.Ellis 3, Stith 3, L.Ellis 3, Overton 3, McDyess 2, Abdul-Rauf 2, Williams, Hammonds, team 3).

Steals: 9 (Abdul-Rauf 2, L.Ellis 2, D.Ellis, McDyess, Stith, Rose, Overton).

Technical fouls: Mutombo, 9:12 second; coach Bickerstaff, 9:05 second; Rose, 2:25 second; Williams, :56.1 third.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 27 6-8 4-4 2-5 2 5 16 McMillan 29 1-3 1-2 0-4 2 3 4 Perkins 39 6-10 5-7 0-3 3 2 18 Hawkins 41 3-11 4-5 3-6 6 2 12 Payton 42 3-16 2-4 1-3 9 1 8 Schrempf 13 2-4 3-4 0-4 1 3 7 Askew 29 4-11 3-3 0-4 0 4 12 Brickowski 14 3-4 2-3 1-4 0 3 9 Wingate 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Johnson 5 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 Totals 240 28-68 24-32 7-34 23 23 86

Percentages: FG .412, FT .750.

3-Point Goals: 6-19, .316 (Hawkins 2-7, Brickowski 1-1, McMillan 1-2, Perkins 1-2, Askew 1-3, Payton 0-4).

Team Rebounds: 10.

Blocked shots: 1 (McMillan).

Turnovers: 21 (Kemp 5, McMillan 4, Perkins 3, Hawkins 2, Payton, Schrempf, Brickowski, team 4).

Steals: 15 (McMillan 5, Payton 5, Hawkins 2, Askew, Brickowski, Johnson).

Technical fouls: Coach Karl, 8:53 second; Schrempf, :56.1 third; Askew, :56.1 third; illegal defense, 7:27 fourth.

Illegal defense: 1. Denver 22 17 27 13 - 79 Seattle 24 29 19 14 - 86

A-17,072 (17,072). T-2:16.

Officials-Joe Crawford, Jim Clark, Benny Adams.