Payton, Kemp Key Sonics Win

Gary Payton scored 25 points and Shawn Kemp had 20 points and 15 rebounds Thursday night to lead the Seattle SuperSonics to their fifth straight win, 94-78 over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Sam Perkins added 16 points off the bench for the Sonics, who have won 13 straight over the Clippers, including nine in a row on the road.

The Sonics, who entered the game with the NBA’s third-highest scoring average at 101.6, were the seventh team held under 100 points by the Clippers in their first seven games. Los Angeles took the court with the league’s secondstingiest defense.

Malik Sealy’s three-point play with 3:05 left in the third narrowed the gap to 64-55, the first time the Sonics’ lead was under double digits since the second.

Loy Vaught’s layup and a jumper by Darrick Martin reduced the deficit to 64-59 with 1:49 left in the third, but Perkins made his third 3-pointer 26 seconds later and L.A. came no closer.

Perkins’ timely basket sparked an 8-2 spurt that increased Seattle’s margin to 72-61 by the end of the quarter. Martin’s driving layup with 8 minutes remaining brought Los Angeles within 76-68, but the Sonics took control after Payton and Kemp returned to the floor with less than 6 minutes left.

SuperSonics 94, Clippers 78

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Schrempf 34 4-9 1-2 2-6 4 4 10 Kemp 35 9-15 2-2 5-15 1 5 20 McIlvaine 23 2-5 0-2 1-4 0 2 4 Payton 36 8-18 7-10 1-6 8 2 25 Hawkins 34 2-8 0-0 1-3 2 1 4 Snow 23 3-5 0-0 0-2 5 3 6 Ehlo 23 0-2 1-2 1-1 2 2 1 Perkins 20 5-10 2-2 1-3 1 0 16 Stewart 8 3-6 0-0 1-2 0 2 6 Wingate 4 1-2 0-0 0-1 0 1 2 Totals 240 37-80 13-20 13-43 23 22 94

Percentages: FG .463, FT .650.

3-Point Goals: 7-18, .389 (Perkins 4-6, Payton 2-4, Schrempf 1-4, Hawkins 0-2, Ehlo 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 6.

Blocked shots: 5 (McIlvaine 4, Stewart).

Turnovers: 16 (Payton 6, Schrempf 4, Kemp 3, Snow 2, Perkins).

Steals: 14 (Schrempf 3, Kemp 2, Payton 2, Hawkins 2, Ehlo 2, McIlvaine, Perkins, Wingate).

Technical fouls: None.

Illegal defense: None.

FG FT Reb L.A. CLIPPERS Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Vaught 39 5-14 1-4 4-11 1 3 11 Rogers 26 3-5 1-2 0-2 3 3 8 Duckworth 9 0-1 0-0 0-2 1 0 0 Richardson 22 0-4 0-0 0-4 2 4 0 Sealy 34 6-16 5-5 0-2 3 2 17 Roberts 10 1-2 2-2 0-2 0 0 4 Outlaw 36 2-9 1-4 5-11 2 3 5 Murray 22 3-6 1-1 3-4 0 1 7 Dehere 9 0-2 3-4 0-1 1 3 3 Piatkowski 14 4-5 0-0 0-2 1 2 9 Martin 18 5-7 1-3 0-1 0 0 12 Wright 1 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2 Totals 240 30-72 15-25 12-42 14 21 78

Percentages: FG .417, FT .600.

3-Point Goals: 3-9, .333 (Rogers 1-1, Piatkowski 1-1, Martin 1-3, Dehere 0-1, Richardson 0-1, Sealy 0-1, Outlaw 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 11.

Blocked shots: 9 (Outlaw 4, Duckworth 3, Roberts 2).

Turnovers: 21 (Outlaw 4, Rogers 3, Dehere 3, Sealy 3, Martin 2, Roberts 2, Vaught, Duckworth, Murray, team).

Steals: 7 (Rogers 3, Vaught, Sealy, Dehere, Martin).

Technical fouls: None.

Illegal defense: None. Seattle 29 20 23 22 - 94 L.A. Clippers 19 17 25 17 - 78

A-6,238 (16,021). T-2:04.

Officials-Ron Garretson, Joe DeRosa, Kevin Fehr.