Sonics Hit The Wall At Indianapolis Pacers’ Fourth-Quarter Run Deals Seattle 92-78 Defeat

The fourth quarter belonged to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday. So did the game.

Mark Jackson’s jumper capped a 19-2 fourth-quarter Indiana run and Seattle went scoreless for 7 minutes in the period to give the Pacers a 92-78 victory and snap the SuperSonics’ seven-game winning streak.

“The defense was the key,” Indiana coach Larry Brown said. “We were not worried about offense. We played with emotion and hustle.”

Reggie Miller scored 22 points to lead the Pacers, who won for the first time in three games. It was Indiana’s first victory since obtaining Jackson in a trade with the Denver Nuggets last week.

Jackson finished with nine points - but six came in the crucial fourth-quarter run.

“We played well on both ends of the floor,” said Jackson, who added five assists and four steals. “We played Pacer basketball and made (Seattle) do some things they don’t necessarily like to do.”

The Sonics surely don’t like shooting 35.3 percent from the field like they did Wednesday.

Shawn Kemp had 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Sonics, while Gary Payton added 18 points. But Payton hit just 5 of 15 shots and missed 4 of 5 in the fourth quarter.

“In a lot of ways we shouldn’t have been in the game tonight,” Seattle coach George Karl said. “And we got beat by a couple of calls and a couple of threes. I’m proud of the way we played.”

“We’ve got to play together and we didn’t do that tonight,” said Seattle’s Detlef Schrempf. “Offensively, we didn’t make each other better.”

Payton tied the game at 72 with a pair of free throws with 10:12 remaining. But after he was whistled for a technical for arguing a call on the other end, the Sonics fell apart.

Indiana went on the 19-2 streak to take a 17-point lead with 1:13 to play. Seattle shot 4 for 16 in scoring just nine points in the fourth period.

Rik Smits scored Indiana’s first 10 points of the game as the Pacers quickly grabbed a 10-point lead. But Seattle, after scoring four points in the first eight minutes, used a 17-6 run to take a 21-20 lead at the end of the period.

Indiana led by four at the half.

Miller snapped out of a shooting slump in the third quarter to score 10 points as Indiana built its lead to eight.

Notes

Indiana has beaten the Sonics five straight times at Market Square Arena… . In his last seven games, Dale Davis is shooting .370. The career .554 shooter was 1-for-3 Wednesday… . Seattle, looking to lead the league in steals for the fifth consecutive season, had eight Wednesday… . After four games scoring 100-plus points, Seattle has been held under the mark in its last five. Three were victories.

Pacers 92, SuperSonics 78

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Schrempf 33 3-8 3-4 1-5 1 1 9 Kemp 39 5-12 9-12 5-11 0 1 19 McIlvaine 17 1-4 0-0 1-2 1 1 2 Hawkins 32 2-10 4-4 1-1 1 3 8 Payton 39 5-15 4-4 1-3 2 3 18 Perkins 22 3-8 1-2 1-5 2 3 8 McMillan 21 0-2 0-0 0-2 3 3 0 Cummings 17 3-5 0-0 1-3 1 5 7 Ehlo 16 2-4 0-0 0-2 1 1 5 Graham 2 0-0 2-2 0-0 0 1 2 Snow 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Totals 240 24-68 23-28 11-34 13 22 78

Percentages: FG .353, FT .821. 3-Point Goals: 7-20, .350 (Payton 4-8, Cummings 1-1, Ehlo 1-2, Perkins 1-4, Kemp 0-1, Hawkins 0-2, McMillan 0-2). Team Rebounds: 6. Blocked shots: 3 (Kemp 2, McIlvaine). Turnovers: 15 (Kemp 4, Payton 4, Schrempf 2, Hawkins 2, Perkins, McMillan, Ehlo). Steals: 8 (Kemp 2, Schrempf, McIlvaine, Hawkins, Payton, McMillan, Cummings). TF: Payton, 9:47 fourth.

FG FT Reb INDIANA Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Ferrell 31 6-9 1-2 1-4 3 4 14 D.Davis 26 1-3 0-0 1-10 1 4 2 Smits 27 6-13 2-2 2-5 3 3 14 Miller 37 5-13 9-10 1-3 3 2 22 Jackson 35 3-7 2-2 0-2 5 2 9 A.Davis 25 3-6 4-5 3-5 0 3 10 Rose 22 3-6 6-8 0-1 0 3 13 Dampier 14 0-2 4-4 0-4 1 3 4 Best 13 2-5 0-0 2-4 4 1 4 Thompson 3 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 Hoiberg 6 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 1 0 Scott 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 29-64 28-33 10-40 20 26 92

Percentages: FG .453, FT .848. 3-Point Goals: 6-13, .462 (Miller 3-6, Ferrell 1-1, Jackson 1-2, Rose 1-2, Best 0-2). Team Rebounds: 9. Blocked shots: 5 (Smits 2, D.Davis, A.Davis, Dampier). Turnovers: 16 (Smits 4, Jackson 4, D.Davis 2, Miller 2, A.Davis, Dampier, Best, team). Steals: 8 (Miller 4, Ferrell, Smits, Jackson, Rose). TF: Miller, 5:45 third. I.D.: 1.

Seattle 21 25 19 13 - 78 Indiana 20 30 20 22 - 92 A-16,383 (16,530).

T-2:15.