Sonics Make Lakers Pay Perkins, Payton, Hawkins Help Seattle Avenge Lopsided Defeat
Sam Perkins, Gary Payton and Hersey Hawkins each scored 20 points as the Seattle SuperSonics, beaten by 23 points in Los Angeles two nights earlier, defeated the Lakers 104-93 Thursday night.
The Lakers played without Cedric Ceballos, the club’s leading scorer who was suspended after missing a charter flight to Seattle.
Nick Van Exel led Los Angeles with 26 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter. The Lakers trailed by 18 late in the third quarter, but cut their deficit to five with 2:20 to go.
Shawn Kemp had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Sonics.
Magic Johnson, who started his first game since coming out of retirement in January, matched his season high with 39 minutes and scored 17 points, but only six in the final three quarters.
After the Lakers cut Seattle’s led to 93-88 on Vlade Divac’s basket, Detlef Schrempf hit a 12-foot baseline fadeaway and Hawkins put in an offensive rebound of a missed 3-pointer by Perkins.
The loss ended the Lakers’ four-game road winning streak. Seattle got its 51st victory and improved to 30-3 at Key Arena.
The Sonics built an 18-point lead with 2 minutes left in the third quarter as Kemp scored 10 points in the period. Anthony Peeler’s 3-pointer cut Seattle’s lead to 82-69 after three quarters.
After playing all 12 minutes in the opening quarter, Johnson faded. He was on the bench at the start of the second quarter and the Sonics scored the first six points for a 32-25 lead.
Perkins had 11 of his 16 first-half points in the second period as the Sonics built up a 59-46 halftime lead. In the final 1:32 of the first half, Perkins sank a 3-pointer and two free throws as Seattle scored seven unanswered points.
The Sonics’ victory came two nights after they were losers at Inglewood, Calif., in a game in which Ceballos played only 12 minutes and scored just two points.
KNBC said Ceballos purchased a boat Wednesday in the Los Angeles area and took it to Lake Havasu, Ariz. Ceballos intended to fly to Seattle on his own Thursday, but was unable to start the boat and wound up stranded.
Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said the report was news to him.
xxxx SuperSonics 104, Lakers 93 FG FT Reb L.A. LAKERS Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Campbell 37 5-10 2-2 1-4 1 5 12 M.Johnson 39 7-18 2-4 3-7 3 4 17 Divac 39 6-11 9-10 4-9 4 2 21 Jones 28 2-4 1-2 0-2 0 5 7 Van Exel 38 8-17 6-8 0-3 2 3 26 Peeler 23 2-4 0-0 1-3 2 4 6 Threatt 11 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 1 0 Strong 5 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 2 Lynch 11 0-2 0-0 1-1 2 0 0 Blount 9 1-1 0-0 0-1 0 1 2 Totals 240 32-69 20-26 10-31 16 25 93 Percentages: FG .464, FT .769. 3-Point Goals: 9-21, .429 (Van Exel 4-11, Jones 2-2, Peeler 2-4, M.Johnson 1-3, Campbell 0-1). Team Rebounds: 10. Blocked shots: 8 (Divac 3, Campbell 2, Jones, Threatt, Blount). Turnovers: 20 (Campbell 6, Divac 4, M.Johnson 3, Jones 2, Peeler 2, Lynch 2, Van Exel). Steals: 6 (Divac 2, Campbell, Jones, Van Exel, Peeler). Technical fouls: None. Illegal defense: 1. FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 40 6-15 6-7 4-11 2 4 18 Schrempf 39 5-13 6-6 2-8 3 4 16 E.Johnson 16 0-2 0-0 2-4 1 3 0 Hawkins 37 6-10 5-6 4-5 0 0 20 Payton 46 5-15 10-10 2-4 7 0 20 Perkins 29 7-13 4-4 1-3 1 3 20 McMillan 17 1-2 0-0 1-3 1 1 2 Brickowski 11 1-4 2-2 3-5 0 6 5 Wingate 5 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 3 Totals 240 32-76 33-35 19-43 15 21 104 Percentages: FG .421, FT .943. 3-Point Goals: 7-16, .438 (Hawkins 3-5, Perkins 2-4, Brickowski 1-1, Wingate 1-1, Payton 0-2, Schrempf 0-3). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 4 (E.Johnson 2, Perkins 2). Turnovers: 14 (Kemp 4, Schrempf 3, Hawkins 2, Payton 2, McMillan 2, E.Johnson). Steals: 15 (Payton 5, Hawkins 3, E.Johnson 2, McMillan 2, Kemp, Perkins, Brickowski). Technical fouls: Schrempf, 8:56 fourth; illegal defense, 3:18 fourth; illegal defense, 3:11 fourth. Illegal defense: 1. L.A. Lakers 25 21 23 24 - 93 Seattle 26 33 23 22 - 104 A-17,072 (17,072). T-2:14. Officials-Bill Oakes, Joe DeRosa, Sean Corbin.