Houston’s Clown Turns Upside-Down

Hard to know who was more surprised Tuesday night at the Summit:

Houston guard Matt Maloney, when he looked up in the first possession to see the game’s premier defensive guard on his rookie Ivy Leaguer self;

Sonic guard Hersey Hawkins, when he looked at the box score and found his 23 points were the Sonic high, and his highest total since March 30;

Sonic reserve forward Larry Stewart, when he found himself in a key part of the game - coach George Karl had to beckon him twice from the bench before he said, “Who, me?” - and then had the audacity to pull the trigger on a 3-pointer, and make it, his 10th of the season;

Or Charles Barkley, who had the game’s last three shots all in a row, one a brick and the last two off the side of the backboard.

Here’s a vote for Barkley as Most Surprised Player. Not only did he end up 6 of 18 from the field and preside over a lackluster Rockets effort that his shooting concluded with burst of unintended hilarity, it was the Chuckster who arrogantly advised Sonic followers in the Rockets quarters Sunday in Seattle: “Wear black.”

Yo, Charles: Wear a clown suit.

“That was kind of unbelievable, hitting two off the side,” said Sam Perkins, smiling at the recollection and acknowledging that it wasn’t all that easy to do.

To a lot of observers, including perhaps a number of Rockets, it is kind of unbelievable that the Sonics are still around this morning, winners for the second time in a row on the Rockets’ home floor in this Western Conference semifinal series. It feels sort of like banging two off the side.

Of course, the Sonics banged two off the side at KeyArena too, and still trail the series 3-2.

But Game 6 is Thursday at home, where losing three in a row seems a bit preposterous.

Then again, this has been one big, delightful Gomer Pyle of a series.

Suh-prise, suh-prise, suh-prise.

Just when you begin to believe Karl that he’s out of adjustments in this series and it’s simply time to go play, he allows Payton to take on Maloney, which helped reduce the Rocket gunner to a virtual trey-gedy - 0 for 6 behind the stripe.

Then Karl discovers his bench, playing five players a collective 54 minutes. Although the productivity wasn’t great, any rest at all for the Sonic starters had to have helped in their best fourth quarter of the series.

Perhaps most important, he rediscovered Hawkins, who hit 4 of 7 treys and 8 of 15 overall to reprise his Game 2 role here when he had 21 points.

How a guy with Hawkins’ tools keeps getting lost in the Sonic offense is a mystery that ranks with Houston’s traffic, which despite no natural barriers such as lakes, hills or speed limits, remains perpetually clogged.

To undock the Hawk, Karl in the off-day preceding the game blew the dust off the chalkboard and worked up a couple of fresh plays.

“He was happy to have two new plays for him,” Karl said. “As a basketball player and a person, he’s very unselfish. That’s probably a negative for him, as far as his basketball personality. Sometimes I have to yell at him to take the shot.”

The surprises produced what should be less of surprise, but never seems that way: A desperation Sonic win. They are now a remarkable 10-5 in do-or-die games, with at least one and perhaps two more to go.

The precipice is becoming so familiar for these guys that the rousing monologues associated with such moments are passe.

“It was very quiet on the plane, and in here,” said Hawkins of his mates’ demeanor. “Nobody’s talking rah-rah. George said it was the quietest he’s ever seen this team.

“Fine with me. I wanted it quiet. I just sit here in my little corner and pray and hope it gets answered.”