Sonics Don’t Miss A Beat Despite Tribulations, Seattle In A Familiar Place At The Top

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Pacific Division-leading Seattle SuperSonics.

That’s right, despite coming off their longest, most grueling road trip of the season; despite going into an offensive funk for four games; despite losing Jerome Kersey for up to eight weeks; despite going 3-2 over their past five games; and despite coach George Karl warning that it would take 40 games minimum for this team to mesh, the Sonics (16-5), for the first time this season, are in sole possession of first place in their division, a half-game ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers (15-5), who lost to the woeful Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night.

Seattle owns the best record in the NBA thanks to the Phoenix Suns’ win Thursday night over the Atlanta Hawks, and, lo and behold, people are starting to realize the Sonics are a legitimate force in the league. Why else would ESPN be at practice Thursday doing a feature on the team?

Of course, the Sonics are saying all the right things about being in first.

Stuff like, “It’s way too early,” according to Hersey Hawkins. “Games are still important and you take games seriously but because you are in first place with 61 games to go doesn’t mean anything at this point. This lead thing can change 10 times by the time the end of the season comes. With the two or three teams in our league challenging for the top stop, this is just one of many changes to come.”

Maybe. And maybe it is just being home for the holidays, but the Sonics were downright giddy after Thursday’s practice. To a man, they all knew about the Lakers’ loss to the Warriors.

And while a favorite - and pathetically overused - cliche of players is that onegame-at-a-time schtick, they all also knew their upcoming schedule favors them to remain in first place through the New Year.

The Sonics have more cake on their schedule than a wedding organizer. Consider, after tonight’s game with Portland, the combined record of the Sonics’ opponents through Jan. 4 is 55-138. How about these cream puffs: Los Angeles Clippers - twice; Denver; Golden State - twice; Minnesota; Sacramento; Philadelphia; Vancouver. The only team with a winning record Seattle plays between Saturday and Jan. 4 is Phoenix.

In contrast, the Lakers, who still are without Shaquille O’Neal, play opponents with a combined record of 115-113. Of their next 12 opponents, six have winning records, including Atlanta twice and the Chicago Bulls once. In addition, the Lakers leave for their longest road trip of the season next week, while Seattle plays five of six at home.

“You think winning steak,” Hawkins said. “You think this is an opportunity for us to get distance between us and the second-place team. When you have a schedule like ours, the best thing about it is a lot of home games. If we play home games like we’ve been playing them, we’ll win most of them. But we have to take care of business.”

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: COMING UP Today: Portland at Seattle, 7 p.m. TV: FSN. Radio: KXLY 920-AM, 6:35 p.m.