Rex Hexes Sonics Chapman’s 42 Points Lead Suns To Victory In Game 1 Of Nba Playoff Series

Rex Chapman shot the Phoenix Suns to an upset victory and might have paved the way for yet another first-round failure by the Seattle SuperSonics.

Chapman set an NBA playoff record with nine 3-pointers while scoring 42 points in a 106-101 victory Friday night. It was a career-high for Chapman, whose previous best was 39 last season.

“It was one of the great moments in playoff history,” Kevin Johnson said. “If Rex doesn’t have a game like that, we lose.”

The Suns, who beat the Sonics twice in a four-day stretch in March, used Chapman’s eighth 3-pointer to go ahead 95-93 with 2:42 left and his ninth for a 102-95 lead with 55 seconds on the clock.

Chapman broke the playoff mark of eight 3-pointers set by Phoenix’s Dan Majerle against Seattle on June 1, 1993.

“I got going pretty good in the first half, but I was cramping up and didn’t feel good at all in the second half,” said Chapman, a nine-year veteran with his fourth club. “Things are good when all your shots seem to fall.”

Gary Payton scored 23 points, Hersey Hawkins had 20 and Shawn Kemp had 19 points and 15 rebounds for Seattle, last season’s Western Conference champions. Payton was disgusted with the way the Sonics defended Chapman.

“When a guy’s shooting the ball like that, you need to stay in his lap,” Payton said.

The teams play here again Sunday night before the best-of-5 series moves to Phoenix for Game 3 Tuesday night.

“Game 2 is going to look nothing like this game,” Johnson said. “We’re going to have to counter the adjustments they make.”

Said Phoenix coach Danny Ainge: “It’s big, but it’s only one. We have to try and get two more and that’s not an easy job against Seattle.”

The Sonics lost Game 2 of last year’s first-round playoff series against Sacramento, but went on to win games 3 and 4 on the road. In 1994 and 1995, they were ousted in the first round.

“Losing like this can also be a benefit because it puts your back up against the wall and you have no choice but to come out and play aggressive all the time,” Kemp said.

Chapman, who is playing for the NBA minimum salary of $250,000 this season, shot 9-of-17 on 3-point attempts. As a team, Phoenix shot 13-of-31 from behind the arc.

Suns 106, SuperSonics 101

FG FT Reb PHOENIX Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Chapman 41 12-22 9-12 1-4 2 1 42 Tisdale 18 2-6 0-0 2-4 0 2 4 Williams 20 2-4 1-3 0-2 1 4 5 Johnson 42 4-13 4-5 2-7 5 1 13 Kidd 41 3-11 3-6 0-5 10 2 11 Manning 30 6-10 2-2 1-6 5 4 14 Person 20 2-4 5-6 0-0 1 0 10 Bryant 13 2-2 1-1 0-2 0 0 5 Ceballos 3 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 Meyer 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Brown 11 0-0 2-2 1-2 0 3 2 Totals 240 33-72 27-37 7-33 24 17 106 Percentages: FG .458, FT .730.

3-Point Goals: 13-31, .419 (Chapman 9-17, Kidd 2-7, Johnson 1-3, Person 1-3, Manning 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 15.

Blocked shots: 5 (Williams 2, Manning 2, Brown).

Turnovers: 17 (Johnson 6, Kidd 3, Chapman 2, Williams 2, Manning 2, Bryant, Brown).

Steals: 11 (Johnson 4, Kidd 3, Manning 2, Williams, Person).

Technical fouls: None.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 43 8-21 3-3 8-15 3 4 19 Schrempf 34 4-14 7-8 4-7 2 5 17 Cummings 25 4-8 3-4 3-8 0 5 11 Hawkins 41 8-11 2-2 2-3 2 4 20 Payton 45 10-23 2-2 1-5 9 2 23 Perkins 24 3-8 0-0 0-5 1 4 8 McMillan 20 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 4 0 Wingate 8 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 3 Totals 240 38-88 17-19 18-45 17 29 101 Percentages: FG .432, FT .895.

3-Point Goals: 8-16, .500 (Schrempf 2-2, Hawkins 2-2, Perkins 2-5, Wingate 1-2, Payton 1-4, Kemp 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 8.

Blocked shots: 3 (Kemp, Cummings, Payton).

Turnovers: 17 (Kemp 7, Payton 3, Hawkins 2, Cummings 2, Schrempf, Perkins, McMillan).

Steals: 9 (Hawkins 3, Kemp 2, Payton 2, Schrempf, McMillan).

Technical fouls: Schrempf, 7:17 third.

Illegal defense: 1.

Phoenix 20 31 26 29 - 106

Seattle 23 24 32 22 - 101

A-17,072 (17,072). T-2:26.