Perkins Buries Jazz With Late 3-Pointer
Sam Perkins had already been knocked silly by Karl Malone. But that was in the first quarter, not with the game on the line.
Perkins, ignoring a charging Malone, made a 3-point jumper just to the right of the top of the key with 12.6 seconds remaining Saturday night to lift the Seattle SuperSonics to a 100-98 win over the Utah Jazz.
“It was a set play,” said Perkins, who shoots the majority of his 3s while stationary. “You don’t think about it. The shot just comes in a situation like that.”
In the first quarter, Malone’s elbow had dizzied Perkins.
“Coach asked me if I wanted to come out and I said ‘No,’ I’ll just sit here a minute and get my bearings,” said Perkins, who after an injury timeout was helped to his feet and went to the bench.
He returned in the second quarter and by game’s end had carried the Sonics to their sixth straight win.
With All-Stars Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton held to 10 and 14 points, respectively, Perkins scored 16 points in the fourth quarter with many coming over Malone.
Utah coach Jerry Sloan said he knew Perkins would take the Sonics’ shot after Chris Morris’ 3-pointer gave Utah a 98-97 lead.
“He’s a great outside shooter. It’s not that we didn’t know what they were doing. We just didn’t get there,” Sloan said.
The Sonics beat the Jazz for the second time in three meetings. Both of those wins were come-from-behind efforts decided in the last 5 seconds.
The Sonics (56-15) improved their home record to 20-1 against Western Conference opponents.
With the game 93-93, Hersey Hawkins basket and free throw put the Sonics up 96-93 with 1:06 left.
Antoine Carr’s two free throws made it 96-95 with 49.7 seconds left before Detlef Schrempf made 1 of 2 free throws for a 98-97 Sonics lead.
Sloan inserted Morris into the game before Schrempf’s second attempt, and the move paid off.
Unguarded on the left wing, Morris, who scored all 13 of his points in the fourth quarter, hit a 3-pointer with 34.8 seconds left that gave the Jazz a 98-97 lead.
Following Perkins’ clutch bucket, Morris had a chance to win it but missed a 3-pointer with 2 seconds remaining.
xxxx SuperSonics 100, Jazz 98 FG FT Reb UTAH Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Benoit 21 2-7 0-0 0-2 0 2 5 Malone 38 9-20 6-8 4-7 10 4 24 Spencer 18 0-0 0-0 1-3 1 4 0 Hornacek 35 4-9 0-0 2-4 1 2 8 Stockton 39 9-12 3-4 0-2 12 1 23 Eisley 9 3-4 0-0 0-1 0 3 6 Keefe 26 1-3 5-6 2-10 0 1 7 Morris 14 5-8 1-1 1-1 1 1 13 Carr 24 4-8 2-2 1-2 2 4 10 Foster 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Ostertag 13 1-3 0-0 0-4 0 1 2 Totals 240 38-75 17-21 11-36 27 23 98 Percentages: FG .507, FT .810. 3-Point Goals: 5-12, .417 (Morris 2-4, Stockton 2-4, Benoit 1-2, Hornacek 0-2). Team Rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 5 (Malone 2, Spencer 2, Ostertag). Turnovers: 15 (Malone 7, Spencer, Stockton, Eisley, Keefe, Carr, team 3). Steals: 7 (Hornacek 3, Malone 2, Stockton, Eisley). Technical fouls: illegal defense, 8:05 fourth. Illegal defense: 1. FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 31 3-8 4-6 1-6 0 5 10 Schrempf 39 4-10 7-9 1-2 5 2 18 Johnson 26 6-8 1-2 4-10 1 4 13 Hawkins 36 6-12 2-4 2-4 2 1 14 Payton 45 6-14 1-2 0-6 10 4 14 Perkins 27 7-12 4-4 1-2 2 1 22 Brickowski 13 3-4 1-2 0-3 1 3 7 McMillan 23 1-4 0-0 2-5 5 0 2 Totals 240 36-72 20-29 11-38 26 20 100 Percentages: FG .500, FT .690. 3-Point Goals: 8-23, .348 (Perkins 4-8, Schrempf 3-4, Payton 1-5, Brickowski 0-1, Hawkins 0-2, McMillan 0-3). Team Rebounds: 8. Blocked shots: 5 (Perkins 2, Schrempf, Johnson, Hawkins). Turnovers: 16 (Kemp 5, Johnson 4, Schrempf 2, Payton 2, Hawkins, Brickowski, team). Steals: 6 (Payton 2, Brickowski 2, Perkins, McMillan). Technical fouls: Payton, 11:01 second. Illegal defense: 1. Utah 24 23 23 28 - 98 Seattle 25 24 23 28 - 100 A-17,072 (17,072). T-2:02. Officials-Ed Middleton, Ed F Rush, Tony Brothers.