Sonics Close In On Title Seattle Still In First By A Half-Game, But Gets Big Scare From Lowly Nuggets

There seemed to be so much good - Shawn Kemp again dominating, Detlef Schrempf again contributing, the Sonics eventually winning - it almost seemed a shame to bring up the fact that this was Denver that almost ended Seattle’s run at the Pacific Division title.

“It’s hard not to have a letdown against a team you think you are going to beat,” Seattle guard Hersey Hawkins said. “But even when the game was close, I knew we were going to win it.”

And in the end, that’s what Seattle did. Sam Perkins sank a 3-pointer with 47.9 seconds left and the game tied to lift the Sonics to a wild 108-104 win over Denver on Thursday night in front of 12,817 in McNichols Arena.

A loss, and Seattle could have forgotten about winning the Pacific Division and instead made plans for a first-round playoff date with dangerous Portland.

Instead, the Sonics (56-25) are still a half-game ahead of the Lakers, who have two more games to play (tonight at the Los Angeles Clippers, Sunday at Portland) to Seattle’s one (Saturday at home against the Clippers). If the two teams end in a tie, the Lakers officially win the Pacific Division because they won the season series 3-1.

Some of the Sonics are talking hopefully about the Lakers losing one of those games and Seattle winning the division. That would likely mean a first-round matchup with Minnesota, which has lost 25 straight games to the Sonics.

But for a few scary moments Thursday night, all those plans looked about to be derailed by our-season-ended-in-February Denver.

The same Denver team that is 20-61 and has lost 30 of its past 36 games.

The same Denver team that had lost 107-63 Wednesday night at Portland, scoring 22 points in the first half.

But that Portland debacle apparently inspired Denver to give its all in what was its home finale. That was apparent when Nuggets coach Dick Motta decided to play Ervin Johnson, Dale Ellis and Antonio McDyess all 48 minutes.

“The kids deserved an opportunity to win,” Motta said, adding Tom Hammonds would have joined the 48-minute club had he not gotten in early foul trouble.

And had Anthony Goldwire not missed two free throws with 1:12 left and the game tied at 103, the Nuggets just might have gotten their biggest win of one of their worst seasons.

“We were hoping for an easy one, but Denver shot the ball well (51.9 percent), McDyess was super (29 points) and their big guys hustled,” Sonics coach George Karl said. “It helps us winning close games.”

That could be a good omen for the playoffs. And Karl saw some others Thursday as Kemp and Schrempf showed they may be getting over their respective attitudinal and physical ailments.

Kemp had 22 points at halftime in his best half since early December and led the Sonics with 27 points and 12 rebounds. Kemp, however, almost spoiled it when he threw a terrible pass that gave the Nuggets a final chance to tie.

Seattle led 106-103 and had the ball with 17 seconds left. The plan was to get the ball to Hawkins, the team’s best foul shooter. But Kemp bypassed an open Hawkins and threw cross-court to Schrempf. McDyess intercepted the pass near midcourt, but then missed a 3-pointer.

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