Schrempf Saves Sonics Seattle Gains Ground In Pacific Division With Victory Over Shaq-Less Los Angeles

Shawn was gone.

But the SuperSonics still had Det left.

That’s Detlef Schrempf, who exploited the absence of teammate Shawn Kemp (one-game NBA suspension) and Los Angeles Lakers opponent Shaquille O’Neal (knee injury) to score 34 points and lead Seattle to a 102-91 victory over the Lakers on Sunday.

“We didn’t have any remedy for Detlef Schrempf,” said Lakers guard Eddie Jones, as if speaking of some manner of eastern European disease.

In fact, Schrempf’s hustling, cutting, fast-breaking play was contagious.

“We didn’t really have a lot of sets called for Det,” Sonics guard Nate McMillan said. “He created a lot of it on his own, cutting to the basket, getting out in transition. And, he knew that Shawn was gone.”

Kemp, sitting out the game by NBA mandate after a Friday-night scuffle with Houston’s Kevin Willis, will return to the lineup Monday night when the Sonics play host to the Boston Celtics.

For much of Sunday, though, in front of a national television audience, the Sonics operated well without Kemp. Of course, the absence of O’Neal in the middle created a little more space to accommodate those Sonics cuts in the lane.

As one might expect of a duel between the top two teams in the Pacific Division (Lakers are 37-14, Seattle 35-15), this one was fiercely contested.

It featured 15 ties and four lead changes, and it was knotted five times as the teams each progressed from 79 points to 89 points.

But a steal by Schrempf and a block by Sam Perkins in the final 2 minutes, and a pair of 3-point baskets by Hersey Hawkins allowed the Sonics to pull away to a deceptively large final margin.

Schrempf, who netted 14 of 18 shots, said he brought into the game no expectations of taking over the scoring load, considering the Sonics’ un-Kemp lineup.

“I don’t ever think about how many shots I’m going to take,” said Schrempf. “I made some shots early on and that helps confidence-wise, and I got some good looks, made some cuts and got some easy baskets. And when you do that, you have a little more confidence taking the outside shot.”

Schrempf benefited from the Sonics’ plan to rely on what coach George Karl called “a penetration-passing game.”

“About three or four days ago, we messed around with the passing game,” Karl said. “We’re aware we play well when we pass the ball and don’t play as well when we’re stagnant and less into passing.”

As a result, the Sonics committed only 10 turnovers and had 23 assisted baskets - 10 on passes from point guard Gary Payton.

Payton scored only two points in the first half, but pumped in 19 after intermission.

It was the third consecutive game the Sonics had played well throughout - with the last two resulting in victories over top teams in the Western Conference.

“The big difference is we’ve played 48 minutes (each game),” Karl said. “I think for most of the year, we have not been a 48-minute team; we’ve been a 30-minute team or a 35-minute team.

“We’ve had big holes we’ve had to overcome,” he said. “Teams have come in and hurt us in momentum situations, but in the last three games, mentally, we’ve been solid and haven’t hurt ourselves.”

Seattle showed considerable grit, in fact, in the fourth quarter, blowing open the game after trailing by six points at the end of the third.

While Karl tended to downplay the significance of the victory, one of only two in eight games against top Western Conference teams, Schrempf assessed the outcome differently.

“It’s a big win,” he said. “We made a commitment at the (All-Star) break that we wanted to refocus the second half of the season and play our style of basketball, and I think we have basically accomplished that the last three games

SuperSonics 102, Lakers 91

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Schrempf 40 14-18 4-4 1-7 4 2 34 Perkins 37 7-13 1-2 0-6 2 4 16 McIlvaine 15 1-2 0-0 3-4 0 3 2 Hawkins 31 3-8 4-5 0-0 1 2 12 Payton 45 8-17 4-5 0-6 10 3 21 Cummings 30 3-13 4-4 5-8 1 5 10 McMillan 22 1-4 0-0 0-1 2 5 3 Wingate 17 1-4 2-2 1-2 3 2 4 Stewart 3 0-0 0-0 1-1 0 1 0 Totals 240 38-79 19-22 11-35 23 27 102 Percentages: FG .481, FT .864.

3-Point Goals: 7-19, .368 (Schrempf 2-4, Hawkins 2-4, Perkins 1-3, McMillan 1-3, Payton 1-4, Wingate 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 11.

Blocked shots: 5 (Schrempf 2, Perkins, McIlvaine, McMillan).

Turnovers: 10 (Schrempf 2, McIlvaine 2, Payton 2, Cummings 2, Perkins, Hawkins).

Steals: 10 (Hawkins 3, Cummings 2, McMillan 2, Schrempf, Perkins, McIlvaine).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 6:22, 2nd.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb L.A. LAKERS Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Knight 36 5-8 3-5 6-11 1 5 13 Horry 31 5-9 1-1 1-6 2 4 14 Campbell 43 7-15 6-7 6-17 2 2 20 Jones 40 9-17 8-8 1-4 4 4 26 Van Exel 46 5-19 3-4 1-1 11 0 16 Kersey 22 0-5 2-2 0-1 0 3 2 Rooks 5 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 1 0 Bryant 13 0-3 0-0 0-1 0 2 0 Fisher 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 Scott 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 31-77 23-27 15-42 20 22 91 Percentages: FG .403, FT .852.

3-Point Goals: 6-18, .333 (Horry 3-7, Van Exel 3-8, Bryant 0-1, Jones 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 6.

Blocked shots: 6 (Knight 3, Horry 2, Van Exel).

Turnovers: 15 (Van Exel 5, Jones 3, Horry 2, Campbell 2, Bryant 2, Kersey).

Steals: 5 (Horry 3, Knight, Van Exel).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 7:40, 3rd.

Illegal defense: 1.

Seattle 23 27 19 33 - 102

L.A. Lakers 26 18 31 16 - 91

A-17,505 (17,505). T-2:25.