Sonics Prove Just Good Enough To Stay Close In 2nd Loss To Bulls
Game 3 then. Game 3 is the one Seattle can win, right?
Game 3 is the one the SuperSonics had better win, or else all further NBA Finals news will be available on-line at http://www.bullsweep.com.
Game 2, like Game 1, was a warning-track fly ball, a Hail Mary off the fingertips, a slapshot that hit the post. It was another episode of George Karl and Shawn Kemp setting their jaws and grimly insisting, “We can beat these guys.”
As if that - and not the reality of actually winning - were the issue.
The Sonics wear their perceived public slights like a slicker, but if lack of respect were truly the great motivator the NBA set would have us believe, Seattle would be the team up 2-0 and Chicago would be the city readying the annual Bill Walton effigy roast.
But now the series swings from the United Center to KeyArena, and the change of venue will be welcome.
Besides, the Chicago library needs its atmosphere back.
Karl and Bulls coach Phil Jackson will attack the video of Chicago’s 92-88 victory in Game 2 this morning - their first mission being to uncover who spliced the Raptors-Timberwolves film from December over the last 5 minutes of Friday’s tape.
If the VCR spits out the cassette in disgust, Dennis Rodman will surely be there for the rebound.
Otherwise, there are damn few mysteries - aside from what’s become of Gary Payton, of course.
The Bulls have done to Seattle’s swizzle stick what the Sonics did to Utah point guard John Stockton two weeks previous, if to a slightly lesser degree. The difference is, Utah was able to win a couple even when Stockton was jammed up.
If Payton doesn’t snap out of it, the Sonics don’t survive.
In an amusing bit of gamesmanship prior to the Finals, Michael Jordan - America’s logo - proclaimed forward Shawn Kemp the heart and soul of Seattle’s team. The consensus held it to be a needle aimed at Payton, hijacker of the Utah series, the NBA’s defensive player of the year who one and all wanted to see guard the NBA’s player of the year - which hasn’t happened nearly enough.
On the other hand, maybe it was a prediction. Kemp has been the heart and soul of the Sonics, plus its legs and broad, broad shoulders - 29 points, 13 rebounds, four blocked shots this night.
That makes back-to-back monster games, but you’ll recall that when Kemp soloed like this against the Jazz, Seattle lost.
No, the Sonics need Payton - at least they need for more than 6-of-15 shooting and three assists.
“Gary’s fine,” Karl insisted. “He’s not getting the good looks we usually get him. But he’s getting a lot of attention, also.”
So is Jordan, but even a relatively stifled Jordan is worth 29 points and eight assists. Of course, that might have something to do with the fact that Payton is mostly assigned to Scottie Pippen.
“Maybe we should play one-on-one when this is over,” Jordan mused.
For all the baiting and switching, the only matchup that’s treated Seattle decently is Kemp vs. anybody - and even that hasn’t been a knockout winner all the time. Rodman got more than a few of his 20 rebounds in and around the Reign Man, for instance.
But Payton is a particular problem.
“We haven’t exploited the Pippen matchup - he got 21 points with Gary guarding him tonight,” said Jackson. “That’s OK, but we haven’t been making a special effort to take him in the post or do anything unusual with that matchup. We’re just letting it happen. At the other end, we’re trying to make him work.”
Or take him out. When the Bulls made their break late in the third quarter, Toni Kukoc’s 3-pointers were the kindling - but Pippen’s strip of Vincent Askew, who was bringing the ball up the floor as the point, for a dunk that struck the match. When Kukoc followed with another dunk of the break, Seattle called time - and Payton stood disgustedly with hands on hips.
“They’re a smart team,” said Askew, “they know that we go through Gary and they’re trying to take it out of his hands and make other guys do things.”
But the other guys are having enough trouble doing their own thing. Detlef Schrempf and Sam Perkins, for instance, logged 74 minutes - and totaled six rebounds. Both were statues when Rodman got his NBA Finals record 11th offensive rebound in the closing seconds.
“We’re not fluid on offense,” Askew said. “By the time we get a play going, the clock is down to 8 or 9 seconds. We’ve got to find a counter for that.”
Pushing the ball harder, maybe?
“If you can’t rebound, you can’t push it. You’ve got to rebound it. And if you start forgetting about Dennis Rodman, you’ve got problems,” Askew said.
Problems?
“We’ve just got to win the third game,” said Karl. “We’ve learned from these two losses, but we haven’t got that confidence from winning a game.”
By George, he’s got it.
, DataTimes