Brash Payton Prepared For Seventh Game
Gary Payton wore his hat backward and showed a defiant sneer for the TV cameras.
“We’re going to be ready,” the Seattle SuperSonics point guard guaranteed Saturday, thrusting his jaw forward.
After a lackluster Payton showed up for Game 6 in Utah on Thursday night, Sonics fans wonder which Payton will be in uniform today for Game 7 of the Western Conference finals.
Will it be the combative NBA Defensive Player of the Year and the team’s leading playoff scorer? Or will it be the passive player who had 10 points and seven shots in an embarrassing 35-point blowout loss that evened the Seattle-Utah series 3-3?
Two days after the loss, the three-time All-Star sounded like his cocky old self.
“Once I come out a little hungry, I think the team will just follow suit and we’ll have a good game,” he said.
Payton doesn’t expect to beat Karl Malone, John Stockton and the Jazz all by himself.
“I think Gary is not the kind of guy to take on five guys,” he said. “I’ve got to be the kind of player, if I see somebody open, I’ve got to give them the shot. They’ve got to get confident. They can’t just sit there and watch me.”
A Hill of a dilemma
One of the truisms in the NBA is that if you’re a head coach, you never want to go into a season with one year left on your contract. Maybe it’s all right if you’re Phil Jackson and you have three rings, going on four. Or if you’re George Karl and you know someone who will hire you, even if the nitwits in Seattle haven’t done the right thing. But Bob Hill, the coach of the San Antonio Spurs, is not in either of those situations. He’s in trouble.
His team got trounced by Utah in the conference semifinals and he has been unable to wrangle an extension from Gregg Popovich, the Spurs’ general manager.
“I’m prepared to go into this year without the security for my family,” Hill said. “This is the job I took and the contract I signed. I’m not a guy who runs in and bitches about players or contracts. I have an obligation to uphold my responsibility.”
Popovich isn’t enthralled with Hill. But if that’s the case, why won’t he give teams permission to talk to Hill?
Draft rumors
Now that Shareef Abdur-Rahim has had cold feet and decided to return to California, Syracuse forward John Wallace, the next-best big man available, will move up a spot or two in the draft and doesn’t get past Dallas at six. Some NBA execs say they won’t be surprised if Jermaine O’Neal, one of two high school players to declare for the draft, is the next to back out.
Around the league
Last year, the NBA Finals featured Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O’Neal at center. This year’s heavily anticipated classic heavyweight matchup will be Luc Longley vs. either Ervin “Not Magic” Johnson or Felton Spencer. … One of the New York Post’s many celebrity gossip columnists, Cindy Adams, offered the following item last Thursday: “Word out of California is next year Shaquille goes to the Lakers. My information is that the deal has been struck. Whether they’ve put their signatures on it, I don’t know. All I know is, the deal has been struck.” … Chicago is willing to part with Toni Kukoc and a No. 1 pick to free up enough money to pursue free agent Juwan Howard.
xxxx PLAYOFF COMEBACKS Teams which have won a best-of-seven playoff after being down by: Three games to one x-Boston vs. Philadelphia, 1968 Eastern Division final Los Angeles vs. Phoenix, 1970 Western Division final Washington vs. San Antonio, 1979 Eastern Conference final x-Boston vs. Philadelphia, 1981 Eastern Conference final x-Houston vs. Phoenix, 1995 Western Conference semifinal Two games to none x-Boston vs. Los Angeles, 1969 Championship Series Los Angeles vs. San Francisco, 1969 Western Division semifinal Baltimore vs. New York, 1971 Eastern Conference final x-Portland vs. Philadelphia, 1977 Championship Series x-Chicago vs. New York, 1993, Eastern Conference final x-Houston vs. Phoenix, 1994 Western Conference semifinal x-Houston vs. Phoenix, 1995 Western Conference semifinal x-won championship