Harm Gets In Spurs’ Way Depleted San Antonio Can’t Keep Pace With Sonics

For the San Antonio Spurs, the return of David Robinson can’t come soon enough.

The low-scoring Spurs lost another game and dropped to 1-4 for the season Friday as Shawn Kemp had 19 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Seattle SuperSonics past San Antonio 87-75.

“We stayed aggressive, put our hands on the ball. We kept it up, didn’t let up. That’s a sign of a good team,” Kemp said.

The Sonics, the defending Western Conference champions, led all the way as San Antonio limped along without All-Star center Robinson and several other injured players.

“The game started to slip away and we are short-handed. It’s tough,” said Spurs coach Bob Hill. “It’s just one guy (injured) after another. I’m getting paranoid. As soon as we get all the guys back we’ll be really good. Some of the things we’re going through now will strengthen us.”

Sonics coach George Karl said he reminded his team beforehand that even though Robinson was absent, any road game can be difficult.

“All these games are important,” Karl said. “This could be a big game for us down the stretch. Down the line, home-court advantage could be a factor.”

It wasn’t a stellar shooting night for either team. Seattle shot only 39 percent from the field, San Antonio 41. It was the fourth game out of five that San Antonio has scored fewer than 80 points.

Behind 45-37 at halftime, San Antonio closed the deficit to 45-42 on a field goal and foul shot by Dominique Wilkins with 10:21 left in the third. But Seattle answered with a 9-2 run sparked by Jim McIlvaine and Detlef Schrempf, giving the Sonics a 54-44 lead with 7:07 left in the period.

San Antonio couldn’t move any closer than seven points after that, and Seattle soon built and maintained a double-digit lead.

“They had a lot of key guys out of the lineup,” said Nate McMillan of the Sonics. “When you don’t have a low-post game, you have problems.”

Schrempf and Gary Payton each added 16 points for Seattle, and Craig Ehlo scored 11.

Sean Elliott and Avery Johnson led the Spurs with 15 points apiece. Elliott also had 11 rebounds.

The Sonics held a 24-15 advantage at the end of the first quarter after the Spurs shot only 30 percent in the period and didn’t score in the final 3:56. The Spurs closed the Sonics’ lead to six points late in the second, but San Antonio trailed 45-37 at intermission.

Notes

The Alamodome had problems with its clocks Friday night. The shot clock above the Spurs’ basket did not work in the first quarter. It came on later, but with 1:31 left in the second quarter all the game clocks and shot clocks went dead. “Tell us the damn time,” Payton yelled toward the scorers’ table as the game continued with no visible clock. The problem was corrected by the second half, but with 8 minutes left in the game the clocks went out again temporarily. … Robinson’s rehabilitation for his lower back strain is going well, Spurs general manager Gregg Popovich said. Robinson will begin some basketball-related training next week. No firm date has been set for his return to action… . Greg Anderson started at center in place of Robinson. He tied his career high in blocked shots with six.

SuperSonics 87, Spurs 75

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Schrempf 37 6-10 2-2 2-6 1 2 16 Kemp 33 5-14 9-10 4-13 0 5 19 McIlvaine 16 3-5 1-2 1-2 0 3 7 Hawkins 28 2-9 0-0 2-3 6 1 4 Payton 37 4-19 7-8 3-7 7 2 16 McMillan 21 3-4 2-2 0-5 1 1 8 Perkins 25 2-6 0-0 1-3 0 1 4 Ehlo 26 5-10 0-0 3-7 1 3 11 Wingate 15 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 3 2 Snow 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Stewart 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 31-79 21-24 16-46 18 21 87 Percentages: FG .392, FT .875. 3-Point Goals: 4-18, .222 (Schrempf 2-3, Ehlo 1-2, Payton 1-6, McMillan 0-1, Perkins 0-2, Hawkins 0-4). Team Rebounds: 5.

Blocked shots: 1 (McIlvaine). Turnovers: 12 (Kemp 3, Payton 3, Wingate 2, McIlvaine, McMillan, Perkins, Ehlo). Steals: 9 (Hawkins 3, Kemp, Payton, McMillan, Perkins, Ehlo, Wingate). Technical fouls: Coach Karl, 3:53 fourth; illegal defense, 4:14 second; illegal defense, 1:31 second. Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb SAN ANTONIO Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Elliott 40 6-14 2-3 3-11 3 2 15 Wilkins 42 5-14 2-5 2-6 3 2 12 Anderson 36 1-3 2-2 1-8 0 2 4 Del Negro 31 5-11 1-1 0-3 5 3 11 Johnson 36 7-13 1-4 1-4 7 2 15 Kempton 4 0-0 0-0 1-1 0 1 0 Maxwell 27 3-10 3-6 0-1 1 3 9 Williams 14 0-2 2-2 2-4 0 2 2 Alexander 6 1-2 2-2 0-0 2 0 5 Herrera 4 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 Totals 240 29-70 15-25 10-38 22 18 75 Percentages: FG .414, FT .600. 3-Point Goals: 2-19, .105 (Alexander 1-1, Elliott 1-5, Johnson 0-1, Wilkins 0-3, Maxwell 0-3, Del Negro 0-6). Team Rebounds: 13. Blocked shots: 12 (Anderson 6, Williams 2, Wilkins 2, Elliott, Maxwell). Turnovers: 17 (Wilkins 5, Elliott 2, Anderson 2, Johnson 2, Maxwell 2, Alexander 2, Del Negro, Williams). Steals: 6 (Elliott 2, Wilkins, Anderson, Del Negro, Herrera).

Technical fouls: None. Illegal defense: None.

Seattle 24 21 19 23 - 87

San Antonio 15 22 15 23 - 75

A-15,027 (20,557). T-2:11.