Hello There, Rex? No Long Distance On Sonics’ Nickel

We’d like to thank Rex Chapman for stopping by to help break in the new 425 and 253 area codes, along with a couple others that haven’t been assigned yet.

And thanks as well to the Seattle SuperSonics for letting us know right from the onset what we can expect during the 1997 NBA Playoffs:

The worst.

Doesn’t mean it has to work out that way - not again, right? - but we should expect it, nonetheless.

The Sonics do.

“Since I’ve been here,” mused Terry Cummings, who arrived in January and is still trying to get the hang of the one-way streets around Seattle Center, “everything’s been hard.”

Well, Ter, don’t get the idea that you brought all the rain with you.

You could say the Sonics’ 106-101 loss to Phoenix in Friday night’s first-round opener at KeyArena was pretty much the same old, same old - the usual Baby Ruth that they routinely drop in the playoff punchbowl.

You’d be wrong. This was worse.

At least when the Sonics hiccupped against Sacramento in last year’s first round, they’d stuffed a victory in their gym bag first. At least in those legendary gags against Denver and the Lakers the two springs before, Seattle had the decency to wait until Game 2 or Game 3 before the swoon.

“I think the confidence we gained last year will be easier for us to find,” Sonics coach George Karl offered before this one.

Hey, it was only a theory.

Like defensive rotation and improving yourself in the off-season.

Certainly the Sonics are allowed a stumble or two in the postseason, but why are they so determined to use up everyone else’s quota, as well? Let’s have a quick review of how the higher seeds fared in their playoff openers:

Rockets by 17. Jazz by 20. Heat by 35. Bulls, Lakers, Hawks, Knicks - all winners with a nice cushion.

The Sonics? Well, they allowed themselves to be done in by a team that lost its first 13 games of the regular season, a team with only five holdovers from last year’s playoff roster. Heck, they were done in by an NBA minimum-wager who in eight previous pro seasons had accumulated all of three games of playoff experience.

“One man beat us tonight,” Gary Payton said, unable to disguise his disgust. “Rex Chapman.”

It was unclear whether his disgust was a product of getting beat by one man, or that it was Rex Chapman.

Rex has, after all, been one of the NBA’s running jokes for nearly a decade, though just exactly why is hard to pin down. He has made the rounds (this is his fourth team) with some bad teams and he has been swapped for some bad players - Tom Hammonds, Jeff Webster, Ed Stokes. But he’s always averaged in double figures and been capable of a big night.

Friday night, he was capable of 42 points - including an NBA playoff record nine 3-point field goals.

If nothing else, it was good publicity for the sports bar he owns back in Lexington, Ky., Place by the name of 3’s.

“Guys were just finding me,” Chapman said. “The key is KJ (Kevin Johnson) and Jason (Kidd). They command so much attention that it leaves other people open.”

It wasn’t until Chapman had 30 points that it finally dawned on the Sonics that this was the guy standing between them and a good night’s sleep. And for about 10 minutes, they made him work damn hard for any kind of a shot. And then they lost him again. He hit two huge 3-balls in the final minutes, while the Sonics couldn’t make a 3-incher.

“We missed our shots,” Payton admitted, “but if we’d have stopped him, we’d have won the game. When a guy is shooting like that, we need to stay on his lap. We’re getting killed by 3-pointers every day, and it’s sad we can’t adjust to it.”

Of course, you can’t adjust to all of them. Chapman’s last 3 may have come from 30 feet, and on one 3-on-2 break he didn’t fill the lane but instead ran directly to the corner for a pass from Kidd.

“We knew if we were to have a chance to win that we’d have to have a super-human effort from one of our guys,” said Suns coach Danny Ainge, “and it’s safe to say that’s what Rex came up with. On Sunday, it may have to be somebody else.”

Actually, the shooting was other-worldly. The super-human stuff had to come at the defensive end, where Chapman spent his time trying to shove Detlef Schrempf and Sam Perkins and sometimes even Shawn Kemp off the block.

That was supposed to be the Sonics’ big advantage - their versatility at being able to pound it inside against Ainge’s four-guard lineup and still have the quickness to cover Phoenix on the perimeter. Instead, the Sonics decided to get in a jump-shooting contest.

“I don’t think we lost focus,” said Hersey Hawkins, “but at times we fell asleep out there.”

Thanks for the distinction.

“Hopefully, we’ll hold him to 30 the next game,” he joked.

“I don’t think I want to be in this position tonight,” said Karl. “But I think it’s a great challenge for us.”

As if the Sonics are ever short of those. , DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Blanchette The Spokesman-Review