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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Kings Crown Sonics Kemp Starts, But Fails To Impress

Ronald Tillery Seattle Post-Intelligencer

This wasn’t the type of on-court renewal Shawn Kemp or his teammates were looking for.

“We’ve got some loose ends,” admitted Kemp, whose start Sunday night against the Sacramento Kings was his first in five games. “But we’re going to be fine. Our main thing is to wrap up winning the division. We have to take advantage of the next six games to wrap it up.”

Even though there isn’t such a thing as a late-season training camp, the Sonics may just have to carry out the notion of creating one. Or Kemp and the Pacific Division might just slide by them.

In losing to the Kings 113-101 at ARCO Arena, the Sonics proved that having everyone accounted for doesn’t always mean all is well. Kemp still hasn’t found his groove. And the Sonics surprisingly played down to a team that had lost six straight and 13 of its past 14 games.

It started as a night where things appeared to be heading up, considering the Sonics looked whole for the first time since Feb. 26.

Kemp, Detlef Schrempf, Jim McIlvaine, Hersey Hawkins and Gary Payton began a game together for the first time in 20 games. But that didn’t seem to matter to the Kings, who did more than snap the Sonics’ two-game win streak.

Sunday night’s loss combined with the Los Angeles Lakers’ win over Dallas left the Sonics (52-24) just a half game up in the Pacific Division race.

And the Sonics exited with questions they thought had been buried in the same bag as Kemp’s off-court troubles.

Instead, backup forward Terry Cummings summarized the loss by saying, “These games are going to bring the integrity we’re going to need in the playoffs.”

But what about the stretch run? It still favors the Sonics. With six regular-season games left, the Sonics have just one game against a formidable opponent. The Lakers still have two meetings with the Western Conference-leading Utah Jazz.

The division could fall into the Sonics’ lap. But what about Kemp?

“It’s not my job to analyze what’s going on (with Kemp). It’s my job to get him playing like he did last year,” said Sonics coach George Karl, who went on to call this a “disappointing loss.”

Payton led the Sonics with 19 points. Schrempf and backup Sam Perkins each added 18.

Kemp struggled - again - though it clearly wasn’t from a lackadaisical effort. The Sonics deferred to their All-Star forward early and often. He couldn’t make anything happen. There were traveling calls, wild shots and then came foul trouble.

“Any time you’re taken out of a job, once you get back in there, you’re going to press yourself to play well,” said Kemp, who was benched four times last week for a string of tardiness, and an excused absence to a practice.

“You have a tendency to try to make plays you normally wouldn’t.”

Kemp shot just 1 of 8 from the floor, and had six of the Sonics’ 18 turnovers before fouling out with 3:28 left in the fourth quarter. He finished with 10 points, although he needed 8-of-12 shooting from the foul line to accomplish that.

“Kemper’s trying really hard, and that’s important,” Cummings said. “When we get Shawn at 100 percent, we’ll be fine.”

Kemp said he’s trying too hard.

“I’m just going to take it slowly, but surely,” Kemp said. ” … The main thing is to let it happen, and not try to dominate every single play.”

The Sonics’ problem Sunday night was not making shots they normally would. They shot 39 percent from the floor, and the game might have been worse if not for 35-of-43 free throw shooting.

“We missed layups. We missed easy shots. We missed easy opportunities,” Karl said. “We didn’t take advantage of the help they gave us.”

Sacramento overcame its 18 turnovers, and erased the Sonics’ 52-50 halftime lead by outscoring them 31-18 in the third quarter.

KIngs 113, SuperSonics 101

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Schrempf 37 4-12 8-10 2-8 5 3 18 Kemp 23 1-8 8-12 3-8 0 6 10 McIlvaine 10 1-1 2-2 1-3 0 4 4 Hawkins 41 4-12 1-1 2-5 2 1 10 Payton 41 7-13 5-6 0-3 5 5 19 Perkins 32 5-11 6-6 2-7 1 3 18 Cummings 21 3-10 4-4 1-5 2 4 10 Wingate 13 1-1 1-2 0-1 0 4 4 Stewart 5 1-2 0-0 1-1 0 0 2 Snow 16 3-6 0-0 0-1 2 1 6 Ehlo 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 30-76 35-43 12-42 17 31 101

Percentages: FG .395, FT .814.

3-Point Goals: 6-18, .333 (Schrempf 2-5, Perkins 2-5, Wingate 1-1, Hawkins 1-4, Snow 0-1, Payton 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 10.

Blocked shots: 8 (McIlvaine 3, Perkins 2, Kemp, Cummings, Snow).

Turnovers: 18 (Kemp 6, Schrempf 5, Payton 4, Hawkins 2, Snow).

Steals: 10 (Schrempf 2, McIlvaine 2, Payton 2, Cummings 2, Hawkins, Kemp).

Technical fouls: Schrempf, 8:13 third.

Illegal defense: None.

FG FT Reb SACRAMENTO Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Owens 22 2-7 0-0 0-5 1 4 4 Grant 31 4-8 4-5 5-11 2 4 12 Polynice 29 6-11 3-6 4-11 1 4 15 Richmond 39 9-19 5-8 1-2 4 4 27 Hurley 23 3-8 0-0 1-1 5 1 8 Williamson 27 8-12 3-4 2-5 2 4 19 Smith 29 2-4 5-10 3-12 6 4 9 Abdul-Rauf 15 2-6 1-2 0-0 1 0 5 Edney 22 4-8 4-5 1-1 5 2 12 Salvadori 3 0-0 2-2 0-0 0 2 2 Totals 240 40-83 27-42 17-48 27 29 113

Percentages: FG .482, FT .643.

3-Point Goals: 6-15, .400 (Richmond 4-7, Hurley 2-4, Edney 0-1, Abdul-Rauf 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 12.

Blocked shots: 8 (Grant 3, Williamson 2, Owens, Smith, Salvadori).

Turnovers: 16 (Owens 3, Hurley 3, Smith 3, Edney 2, Williamson 2, Grant 2, Polynice).

Steals: 10 (Hurley 3, Richmond 2, Owens 2, Polynice, Williamson, Edney).

Technical fouls: Polynice, 10:10 third.

Illegal defense: 1.

Seattle 23 29 18 31 - 101 Sacramento 26 24 31 32 - 113

A-17,317 (17,317). T-2:19.

Officials-Bill Oakes, Joe DeRosa, Tim Donaghy.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: SONICS IN PLAYOFF RACES

Pacific Division Seattle 52 24 .684 - L.A. Lakers 51 24 .680 1/2

Western Conference Utah 57 17 .770 - Seattle 52 24 .684 6 L.A. Lakers 51 24 .680 6-1/2 Houston 51 24 .680 6-1/2

This sidebar appeared with the story: SONICS IN PLAYOFF RACES

Pacific Division Seattle 52 24 .684 - L.A. Lakers 51 24 .680 1/2

Western Conference Utah 57 17 .770 - Seattle 52 24 .684 6 L.A. Lakers 51 24 .680 6-1/2 Houston 51 24 .680 6-1/2