Sonics Lay Checkered Past To Rest

For two years, they’ve had to stew. For two years, they’ve endured a long, slow painful burn. For two years, they’ve had to wonder.

If the Seattle SuperSonics had gotten past the first round in either of the past two NBA playoffs, how might they have re-written history? Especially the way they’ve had the Houston Rockets’ number.

Sunday, the number reached a lucky 13 straight over the Rockets, after a 114-107 overtime victory at the Summit advanced the Sonics to the Western Conference finals against San Antonio or Utah.

Thirteen straight over the now-deposed, two-time defending NBA champions. Take away four for the sweep Seattle just completed, and there is enough for two more seven-game series victories. And maybe the Sonics, and not the Rockets, would have been on a three-peat quest.

“We missed our chances,” Sonics co-captain Sam Perkins said. “With all the things that have happened to us the past two or three years, it seems like it was best for us. We’re still here. We’re still together, and we’ve implemented some new personalities.

“It made a couple of people here grow a little bit, mature and see that this is a team thing. You can’t win it all alone. The superstars on this team need support from their teammates.

“All the adversity we went through, it made Shawn (Kemp) grow. It made Gary (Payton) grow. It made us all grow.”

The Sonics cannot journey back to right their unfilled promise, they only can go forward. And no matter where they end, Sunday will go down in the annals as the day Kemp and Payton, finally and officially, took possession of the franchise.

In the decisive game of a series with serious psychological ramifications, those were the two players who came up biggest. It couldn’t possibly have been any other way.

Sonics coach George Karl has spoken all season about this becoming Kemp and Payton’s team. Even before the start of training camp, it was discussed during a team meeting. If the Sonics were to join the constellation of great teams, Kemp and Payton were going to have to join the constellation of great players.

“When coach gave us the team earlier in the year, it gave us a lot of confidence,” said Payton, who averaged 24.5 points, 7.8 assists and shot 52 percent during the four-game series. “During the playoffs, me and Shawn have been making a statement that the coach gave us the team, and we’re ready to take it over.”

If that wasn’t clear before, it was crystal after Sunday.

Kemp came out and played like, as Payton would put it, “a one-man wrecking crew,” chewing up the Rockets defense for 16 points, including four dunks, during the game’s first 8:29. With Kemp providing the booster, the Sonics blasted off to leads as high as 19 in the first half and 20 in the second.

The lead was 20 points when the bottom fell out with 10:08 to play in regulation. Riding an effective half-court trap and a pride-driven, 3-point barrage, the Rockets pieced together a 20-3 comeback. With 2:37 to play, Clyde Drexler’s 18-footer sliced the lead to four.

In retort, Payton, who scored 24, hit a double-clutch jumper over Mario Elie at the foul line. The next time down, he fumbled the ball, regained it, and stepped back to hit a 3-pointer that inflated the Sonics’ lead back to 99-90. After the Rockets responded with eight straight to make it 99-98, Payton blew past Elie and Sam Cassell with the ball, then challenged Hakeem Olajuwon for a reverse layup.

“You know what? Gary’s not afraid to take those shots,” Sonic swingman Vincent Askew said.

Back in the days when the team didn’t belong to Payton and Kemp, those were the very shots that never came their way. But how things have changed. After Payton got his cracks in regulation, Kemp got his in overtime.

With 1:07 to play, and the Sonics clinging to a 105-104 edge, Nate McMillan threw a perfect pass into the post to Kemp, who powered past Olajuwon for a layup, drew a foul and completed a three-point play. Then, with 13.8 seconds remaining, Kemp drained two foul shots that drained the Rockets’ hopes.

SuperSonics 114, Rockets 107

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Schrempf 31 7-12 3-4 1-6 2 6 18 Kemp 44 13-19 6-7 4-15 0 5 32 Johnson 13 0-3 0-0 2-7 1 3 0 Hawkins 33 6-13 4-4 0-3 5 2 17 Payton 49 9-19 5-10 1-4 11 2 24 McMillan 31 1-6 3-4 1-5 5 2 6 Perkins 40 5-9 3-6 3-8 0 4 14 Askew 19 1-6 1-4 0-0 1 3 3 Brickowski 5 0-0 0-0 0-2 1 3 0 Totals 265 42-87 25-39 12-50 26 30 114 Percentages: FG .483, FT .641.

3-Point Goals: 5-23, .217 (Schrempf 1-1, Payton 1-4, McMillan 1-4, Perkins 1-5, Hawkins 1-6, Kemp 0-1, Askew 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 14.

Blocked shots: 11 (Kemp 3, Johnson 2, McMillan 2, Perkins 2, Askew, Brickowski).

Turnovers: 15 (Schrempf 4, Kemp 4, Perkins 3, Hawkins 2, Johnson, Payton).

Steals: 12 (McMillan 4, Payton 3, Perkins 2, Schrempf, Hawkins, Askew).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 9:14, 2nd. Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb HOUSTON Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Horry 45 7-17 1-4 4-12 4 6 20 Brown 13 0-2 4-4 3-4 0 2 4 Olajuwon 50 11-19 4-8 3-6 3 5 26 Drexler 36 4-14 7-8 4-15 6 4 15 Smith 19 0-4 2-2 0-1 2 2 2 Bryant 26 3-4 4-5 1-5 0 4 10 Elie 37 5-14 4-4 2-5 2 4 15 Cassell 35 5-16 1-1 0-0 6 4 15 Mack 4 0-2 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 Totals 265 35-92 27-36 17-49 23 31 107 Percentages: FG .380, FT .750.

3-Point Goals: 10-34, . 294 (Horry 5-11, Cassell 4-10, Elie 1-4, Olajuwon 0-1, Mack 0-1, Drexler 0-3, Smith 0-4).

Team Rebounds: 12.

Blocked shots: 1 (Horry).

Turnovers: 18 (Drexler 5, Olajuwon 4, Horry 3, Cassell 3, Smith, Bryant, Elie).

Steals: 10 (Horry 3, Drexler 2, Elie 2, Brown, Olajuwon, Smith).

Technical fouls: Elie, 11:05, 2nd; Drexler, 9:49, 2nd.

Illegal defense: None. Seattle 26 31 26 18 13 - 114 Houston 18 25 23 35 6 - 107 A-16,285 (16,285). T-2:50.

Officials-Joe Crawford, Ron Garretson, Bernie Fryer.