Baker Burns Pacers With 41 Sonics Sweep Season Series Against East’s Top Team

Seattle SuperSonics forward Vin Baker described it as being “released from jail.”

After being double- and sometimes triple-teamed for what has seemed like the entire first half of the NBA season, Baker was given free reign - no insult intended - against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night and exploded for a career-high-tying 41 points to lead the Sonics to a 104-97 victory at KeyArena. The win sent the Sonics into the All-Star break feeling about as euphoric as possible, all things considered.

With their newest acquisition having his best game of the year, the Sonics own an unprecedented 37-10 record, their best start in franchise history.

And perhaps the biggest reason is Baker, who put on display all the wonderful moves he brought here from Milwaukee and made 16 of 22 field goals. The 16 baskets also tied a career high.

If you don’t believe the Sonics about how big an impact Baker has had on their season, just ask Pacers coach Larry Bird, whose team owns the best record in the Eastern Conference (33-13): “Sometimes you wish when you play them, you wish Shawn Kemp was in there,” Bird said. “Not that Kemp’s a bad player, but Baker is awesome.”

If only Bird’s pregame analysis was as prescient as his postgame. Because the Sonics had killed so many teams by their devastating 3-point shooting, Bird decided to guard Baker with only one man - although he tried virtually every man on his team - and stay straight-up with Seattle’s outside shooting.

The result was Baker annihilating the Pacers.

“This is like heaven,” Baker said. “I can’t explain it in better words. I was really surprised they didn’t double-team. I thought the double-team was going to come as soon as the third quarter started. Surprisingly, they didn’t. It was like being released from jail.”

But Baker’s game wasn’t just scoring. He led the Sonics with 11 rebounds and, defensively, had six blocked shots, also tying a career high, helping limit the Pacers to 42.4 percent shooting.

“I think once you get a game like that where you are playing well offensively, a lot of times offense triggers your defense and I think that was the case for me tonight,” Baker said.

The win was the Sonics’ fourth straight, eighth consecutive at home and, perhaps most important if they indeed make the NBA Finals, they are 10-0 in KeyArena against Eastern Conference opponents.

Although it might not show it in the box score, center Jim McIlvaine also had a big impact. Averaging 16 minutes a game, he played 24 - two shy of his season high - against Pacers center Rik Smits, an All-Star, and limited Smits to 19 points and 10 rebounds. Seven of the points came late in the fourth quarter when the Sonics had built an 18-point lead. McIlvaine forced Smits to miss eight of his first 10 shots while also grabbing nine rebounds.

SuperSonics 104, Pacers 97

FG FT Reb INDIANA Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts D.Davis 21 2-2 0-0 2-7 0 2 4 Mullin 26 5-12 4-4 1-2 1 5 17 Smits 30 8-21 3-3 5-11 1 3 19 Jackson 37 3-9 1-2 0-0 14 4 7 Miller 40 7-12 5-6 0-3 1 1 25 McKey 21 1-9 1-2 3-9 3 4 3 A.Davis 24 3-7 0-1 1-6 0 1 6 Rose 18 4-7 0-0 1-2 1 1 8 Best 11 2-4 0-0 0-0 2 4 5 Hoiberg 8 0-1 1-1 0-0 0 3 1 Croshere 4 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 Totals 240 36-85 15-19 13-40 23 30 97 Percentages: FG .424, FT .789.

3-Point Goals: 10-19, .526 (Miller 6-8, Mullin 3-5, Best 1-1, McKey 0-1, Smits 0-1, Jackson 0-3). Team Rebounds: 7. Blocked shots: 5 (Smits 2, D.Davis, McKey, A.Davis). Turnovers: 10 (Smits 3, Jackson 2, Hoiberg 2, McKey, A.Davis, Rose). Steals: 7 (McKey 2, Jackson 2, Best, D.Davis, Mullin). Technical fouls: Coach Bird, 9:00 fourth. Illegal defense: None.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Baker 40 16-22 9-12 4-11 1 4 41 Schrempf 37 8-15 8-10 2-6 5 2 24 McIlvaine 24 2-3 3-3 1-9 0 4 7 Hawkins 30 0-5 2-2 2-7 2 1 2 Payton 44 6-15 4-8 4-5 14 1 17 Ellis 24 2-5 0-1 0-3 0 1 5 Wingate 13 0-3 0-0 1-2 1 2 0 Perkins 24 2-8 0-0 1-4 1 3 5 Anthony 4 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 3 Totals 240 37-78 26-36 15-47 24 19 104 Percentages: FG .474, FT .722. 3-Point Goals: 4-16, .250 (Ellis 1-1, Anthony 1-1, Perkins 1-3, Payton 1-4, Schrempf 0-3, Hawkins 0-4). Team Rebounds: 10. Blocked shots: 7 (Baker 6, McIlvaine).

Turnovers: 10 (Baker 5, Hawkins 2, Schrempf, McIlvaine, Perkins). Steals: 7 (Payton 3, Hawkins 2, Baker, Ellis). Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 5:20 second; illegal defense, 1:06 third. Illegal defense: 1.

Indiana 25 20 27 25 - 97

Seattle 26 24 25 29 - 104

A-17,072 (17,072). T-2:04.