Sonics Pound Nets; Perkins Takes His Lumps

Gary Payton got the Seattle SuperSonics off to a fast start in the first quarter. From there, it was a cakewalk.

Payton connected on seven of his first eight shots, the Sonics opened an early 15-point advantage and were never threatened in a 109-90 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Friday night at KeyArena.

Hersey Hawkins led the Sonics with 26 points in 29 minutes on 8-for-12 shooting and Payton finished with 24 points.

“Gary got us off to a good start and got them back on their heels,” Hawkins said. “The rest of us took it from there.”

Sonics coach George Karl was pleased with the way his team rebounded after blowing a 10-point lead in a loss to the Orlando Magic on Tuesday.

“Gary jumped into the game and got us started and Hawk was fantastic,” Karl said. “It was a solid win to get us back on track.”

The Sonics extended their Pacific Division lead as the second-place Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Houston Rockets. But it was not a painfree victory for the Sonics. Sam Perkins was hit above the left eye with 4 minutes left in the game.

He was helped to the lockerroom after lying prone on the floor for 5 minutes, and it took eight stitches to close the cut. He is listed as day-to-day and may be available for Sunday’s game at Portland.

Kendall Gill, who played two seasons for the Sonics, led the Nets with 25 points on 10-for-16 shooting. Sam Cassell added 19 points and rookie Kerry Kittles came off the bench for 14.

Seattle’s defense pressured the Nets into 18 turnovers and converted them into 22 points. The Sonics, who led the league in steals, had 14 against New Jersey.

Nets coach John Calipari said the Sonics’ double-teaming, trapping defense baffled his team.

“No one double-teams our guys except Cleveland,” Calipari said. “We could have gotten beat by 40 but our guys hung in there.”

The Sonics split the season series after losing to New Jersey 110-101 in their previous meeting.

SuperSonics 109, Nets 90

FG FT Reb NEW JERSEY Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Gill 32 10-16 4-7 3-6 3 4 25 Massenburg 20 2-4 0-0 2-3 0 1 4 Montross 20 2-3 0-0 3-8 0 5 4 Cassell 34 7-16 0-0 0-4 7 4 19 Jackson 31 4-11 3-4 1-8 3 3 11 Kittles 35 5-15 2-4 2-5 1 0 14 McDaniel 23 3-8 2-2 2-6 1 5 8 Kleine 26 2-4 1-2 1-3 1 2 5 Edwards 14 0-2 0-0 0-1 3 1 0 Haley 5 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 2 0 Totals 240 35-80 12-19 14-46 19 27 90 Percentages: FG .438, FT .632.

3-Point Goals: 8-18, .444 (Cassell 5-8, Kittles 2-3, Gill 1-4, Edwards 0-1, Jackson 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 10.

Blocked shots: 7 (Massenburg 2, Montross 2, Kleine 2, Edwards).

Turnovers: 20 (Cassell 4, Jackson 3, Kittles 3, McDaniel 2, Montross 2, Gill, Massenburg, Kleine, Edwards, team 2).

Steals: 6 (Cassell 3, Gill, Massenburg, Kittles).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 3:41 third; Montross, 3:02 fourth.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 21 5-9 1-1 3-7 0 4 11 Stewart 28 3-6 3-4 1-3 3 3 9 McIlvaine 26 4-8 1-2 5-8 0 2 9 Hawkins 29 8-12 6-7 0-8 4 2 26 Payton 33 9-18 4-4 0-0 6 2 24 McMillan 20 1-3 0-0 2-3 4 2 2 Perkins 20 1-7 3-4 1-5 2 1 5 Wingate 20 3-6 0-0 1-1 2 3 7 Cummings 20 3-7 3-4 1-5 3 3 9 Snow 10 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 2 2 Graham 5 0-3 5-5 0-1 1 0 5 Ehlo 8 0-3 0-0 0-2 0 0 0 Totals 240 38-85 26-31 14-43 27 24 109 Percentages: FG .447, FT .839.

3-Point Goals: 7-19, .368 (Hawkins 4-5, Payton 2-4, Wingate 1-2, McMillan 0-1, Graham 0-1, Ehlo 0-2, Perkins 0-4).

Team Rebounds: 5.

Blocked shots: 3 (McIlvaine 2, Perkins).

Turnovers: 11 (Payton 4, McIlvaine 2, Wingate 2, Cummings, Kemp, Stewart).

Steals: 14 (Hawkins 4, Payton 3, Kemp 2, McIlvaine, McMillan, Perkins, Cummings, Snow).

Technical foul: Payton, 1:17 second.

Illegal defense: None.

New Jersey 21 20 28 21 - 90

Seattle 31 29 29 20 - 109

A-17,072 (17,072). T-2:08.