Show Me The Pressure, Says Kemp Playoffs Will Bring Out His Best, He Claims

Shawn Kemp was talking recently about his expectations for the playoffs.

He said all the politically correct and modest things, nothing that anyone would later be able to hold him to.

But then he broke out of the programmed mold and issued what sounded like a promise:

“I play better when the pressure is on, though,” he said. “I will say that. I like the playoff atmosphere because I like challenges.”

Then maybe we can expect an All-World Kemp in the playoff run that begins tonight at KeyArena against Phoenix, because the pressure has never been on Kemp quite like it is now.

By now, everyone’s familiar with the litany of missed planes, practices and meetings, and other confusing behavior that has had most Sonics fans shaking their head for a couple weeks.

All of that was coupled with two months of subpar play, during which time Kemp’s scoring average fell from 21.7 at the All-Star break to a season-ending 18.7, and his rebounding mark slipped from 11.0 to 10.0.

Each number was a drop from the year before, the first time in Kemp’s eight-year career that he hadn’t improved his scoring and rebounding from the previous season.

The poor play and bizarre behavior led to all sorts of speculation about Kemp’s future - one theory being that Kemp was trying to force the team to trade him.

All that speculation can likely be quieted with a solid playoff run, a run that could turn his slump into a footnote.

Kemp is now trying to downplay, or outright avoid, all discussion of his slump. One day, he said what happened this year was no different from last year, when he had to sit out the first game of the playoffs after being ejected from Seattle’s last game of the regular season for fighting.

“I was in pretty much the same situation because they were criticizing and killing me the same time last year right before the playoffs,” Kemp said.

Told of Kemp’s comparison, Sonics coach George Karl demurred.

“It wasn’t as severe as this year,” Karl said. “What’s been done to his image this year (by the media) is cruel.”

Still, the comparison is worth investigating. Kemp scored 14 or fewer points in five of Seattle’s last eight games last season, a streak that started after he missed a flight to Portland and a subsequent meeting with USA Basketball officials that was seen as crucial to his hopes of being named to the 1996 Olympic Team.

Then he was suspended for the Game 1 playoff victory over Sacramento, and though he played decently in Game 2 (21 points, 10 rebounds) the Sonics lost, which then led to all sorts of talk that the team played better without him.

Kemp’s image at that moment was about the lowest it had been.

We know what happened next - eight straight wins and an eventual spot in the NBA Finals, during which time Kemp established himself as seemingly standing right below Michael Jordan in the NBA hierarchy.

“If he wasn’t the best player in the playoffs last year, he was in the top two,” said Sonics president and general manager Wally Walker.

And therein lies the hope for this playoff run, that maybe Kemp will again be able to eschew his second-half slump and pick up where he left off last June.

All of those in the Sonics’ camp are professing faith that’s exactly what will happen.

“Until you see it there is always a doubt,” Walker said. “A doubt for us as a team and a doubt for every player. But some guys are just like that, they get more fired up and focused for the playoffs, and Shawn has always been one of those guys.”

Karl, in fact, says Kemp’s propensity for lifting his game in the playoffs goes back to Karl’s first season, in 1992, when the Sonics upset Golden State in the first round in four games.

Kemp had averaged 15.5 points and 10.4 rebounds in what was his third season in the league, but he blistered the Warriors for 22 points and 16.3 rebounds a game, including 20 rebounds in the clinching win.

“That’s the best I’ve ever seen him play,” Karl said. “It’s just his pride. He was fantastic last year in the playoffs - he played poorly early and then he played well late.”

That hasn’t always been the case. Kemp played erratically in the infamous 1994 first-round loss to Denver, averaging only 14.8 points and 9.8 rebounds in the five games.

But in three of the past five seasons, Kemp’s playoff numbers have been better than his regular-season averages, and his career playoff numbers of 18.2 points and 10.3 rebounds are better than his career regular-season averages of 16.2 and 9.6.

“They count,” Kemp said simply of why he plays better in playoff games. “They don’t really count in the regular season. The playoffs are what counts. You don’t win a championship in the regular season. You could win 80 games and you don’t win a championship. It matters a lot what you do in the regular season, but then again, it doesn’t really matter.”

Not exactly a sales pitch for season tickets, but maybe an insight into Kemp’s thinking.

“His focus is totally different in the playoffs, that’s what I’ve seen,” said Sonics assistant Dwayne Casey, who has known Kemp since helping recruit him to Kentucky out of high school.

“Shawn gauges his game more toward the playoffs, that’s what he targets it on.”

Casey said he saw a similar playoff-like focus out of Kemp the last three games of the regular season, when Kemp averaged 23 points and 11.3 rebounds a game and made 24 of 41 shots (58.5 percent).

“He’s been coming out and working hard in warmups and getting a lather going, a sweat going before the game, where before he really didn’t do that,” Casey said.

Such activity, Casey said, enables Kemp to run well the minute the game starts, which is one of his greatest strengths.

“When he runs, he scores, and he opens up so many more things,” Casey said.

Some might question why Kemp can’t do that all the time.

“The NBA season is so long, no matter what you say, it is difficult to bring it to the table every night,” Casey said. “He does it in short increments. For whatever reason I don’t know, but that’s true of the entire team.”

Others might question whether it will really be that easy for Kemp to regain last year’s playoff form.

NBC analyst and former NBA player Steve Jones said teams are capable of defending Kemp if Kemp doesn’t react well to what the defense is doing.

“What is basically wrong with Shawn Kemp’s game is it’s not a set-up game, it’s an athletic game,” Jones said. “He relies on his speed, his quickness, his jumping ability. And if you take some of those things away, now how is he going to score?

“He has the tools to score, but if you don’t have the know-how, then every scorer is going to be tested. The good ones make an adjustment and Shawn Kemp has to make that adjustment.”

Whatever the reasons for Kemp’s slump, everyone agrees the Sonics won’t go far unless he snaps out of it for good.