Pistons Put Hurt On Supersonics Surprising Detroit Does Some Damage To Seattle’s Aspirations For Division Title

The regular season has at times seemed unimportant to the Seattle SuperSonics, who know the ultimate determination of whether this season is a success or a failure will come in the playoffs.

But an interesting dichotomy has emerged for this team. Now that the playoffs are looming, the regular season has never seemed more important.

That’s what made Sunday night’s 86-83 loss to the Detroit Pistons (47-17) in front of 21,454 at The Palace of Auburn Hills so tough to take.

The Sonics (45-19) now are close enough to the end of the season to see losses like this as the difference between winning the Pacific Division and facing a harmless foe in the first round, or finishing second and facing suddenly surging Portland or talented upstart Minnesota.

“Winning the division would be huge for us,” said Seattle guard Hersey Hawkins, who led the Sonics with 18 points.

Seattle had a season-high three-game lead in the Pacific when Sunday’s game tipped off against a Pistons team bent on proving it is better than it looked in a 93-80 loss at KeyArena on Tuesday.

“How gratifying it was for us after they really manhandled us five days ago to come home and meet the power to which they play,” said Detroit coach Doug Collins, whose surprising team has already won more games than it did last season.

Still, the game seemed Seattle’s to win when a Larry Stewart dunk capped an 8-0 run and put the Sonics ahead 74-70 with 6:18 left.

After a timeout, Grant Hill, who had been held captive by Gary Payton and Seattle’s defense most of the night, finally broke loose. He hit a jumper, then made a steal that led to an Aaron McKie lay-in. Then he made another steal that led directly to a 3-pointer by the ageless Joe Dumars to put Detroit ahead for good.

Pistons 86, SuperSonics 83

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Stewart 21 4-8 0-0 4-7 2 2 9 Kemp 31 5-9 3-4 2-11 4 5 13 McIlvaine 10 1-2 0-2 0-2 0 5 2 Hawkins 38 6-13 3-4 2-8 4 2 18 Payton 45 6-16 1-2 0-7 4 4 16 Perkins 30 3-10 1-1 0-0 0 2 9 McMillan 24 1-4 3-4 0-3 7 2 6 Wingate 18 0-2 0-0 2-4 2 3 0 Cummings 23 4-9 2-3 4-6 1 1 10 Totals 240 30-73 13-20 14-48 24 26 83 Percentages: FG .411, FT .650.

3-Point Goals: 10-25, .400 (Hawkins 3-6, Payton 3-8, Perkins 2-5, Stewart 1-3, McMillan 1-3).

Team Rebounds: 6.

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

Turnovers: 15 (Kemp 4, Payton 3, Stewart 2, Perkins 2, Cummings 2, McIlvaine, McMillan).

Steals: 5 (Payton 3, Hawkins, Cummings). Technical fouls: None.

Illegal defense: None.

FG FT Reb DETROIT Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Hill 36 3-9 5-7 2-11 5 4 11 Thorpe 36 4-10 2-3 2-8 2 3 10 Ratliff 15 0-1 0-0 1-2 0 4 0 Hunter 34 2-14 2-4 1-1 2 0 6 Dumars 43 6-13 3-4 0-4 7 2 21 Mills 37 10-17 1-1 2-4 3 4 25 McKie 30 2-8 2-2 1-7 0 0 6 Long 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 Curry 5 1-2 4-4 2-3 0 2 7 Totals 240 28-75 19-25 11-40 20 20 86 Percentages: FG .373, FT .760.

3-Point Goals: 11-26, .423 (Dumars 6-10, Mills 4-9, Curry 1-2, McKIe 0-1, Hunter 0-4).

Team Rebounds: 9.

Blocked shots: 6 (Hill 2, Mills 2, Ratliff, Hunter).

Turnovers: 9 (Hill 2, Thorpe 2, Dumars 2, Ratliff, Hunter, McKie).

Steals: 10 (McKie 5, Hill 3, Dumars, Hunter).

Technical fouls: None.

Illegal defense: 1.

Seattle 21 23 20 19 - 83

Detroit 20 26 18 22 - 86

A-21,454 (21,454). T-2:12.

Officials-Hue Hollins, Ken Mauer, Greg Willard.