Sonics Continue Mastery Of 76ers Philadelphia’s Season Low Is Three Less Than Nickname

If the rest of 1998 is like the first two days, Larry Brown and the Philadelphia 76ers are going to have a roller-coaster year.

After scoring a season-high 115 points Thursday against the Vancouver Grizzlies, the Sixers managed a season-low point total in a 90-73 loss to the Seattle SuperSonics on Friday night. It could have been a lot worse.

“They could have beat us by 50,” Brown said. “It was like the varsity against the JV.”

Gary Payton scored 15 points and had nine assists as Seattle beat Philadelphia for the 11th straight time. The Sixers had just 47 points through three quarters and were looking at the possibility of equaling a franchise-low of 57 scored nearly two years ago against Miami.

“Once they pressured us, we turned into a bunch of individuals,” Brown said.

The Sonics scored 24 points off Sixers turnovers and had 15 steals. To make matters worse, Allen Iverson took an elbow in the mouth from teammate Theo Ratliff late in the third quarter and didn’t return. He was 3 for 9 from the field.

Terry Cummings, a 16-year veteran, said he had no explanation for the Sixers’ performance.

“We couldn’t do anything right,” said Cummings, who spent last year with the Sonics. “Their defense forced us out of game plan and we didn’t have a second option.”

Detlef Schrempf said it took the Sonics most of the first quarter to get into the rhythm of the game.

“It’s tough to get up emotionally for a team you’re supposed to blow out, but as the game went on we got more into the game.”

Sonics coach George Karl was pleased with his team’s overall play.

“Defensively, we did our jobs very well,” Karl said. “We’re one of the best teams in basketball, but we have room to get better.”

Sixers’ Derrick Coleman, playing his first game after a two-game suspension for fighting, had six points and 10 rebounds. Ratliff led the Sixers with 12 points.

Stephen Howard, who missed the first 30 games with a stress fracture in his foot, played 8 minutes for Seattle and had one point.

SuperSonics 90, 76ers 73

FG FT Reb PHILADELPHIA Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Coleman 22 3-10 0-0 4-10 2 2 6 Thomas 32 3-7 2-2 2-7 1 2 9 Ratliff 31 5-12 2-2 6-8 1 6 12 Iverson 24 3-9 2-2 0-4 3 2 8 Jackson 31 3-12 2-2 2-3 2 2 8 Davis 16 1-2 1-2 1-1 0 2 3 Cummings 16 1-6 1-2 2-4 0 0 3 McKie 25 1-4 2-2 2-3 3 3 4 Weatherspoon 16 0-1 2-2 1-2 0 0 2 Parker 9 0-1 1-2 0-0 0 0 1 Walters 8 2-4 1-1 0-0 1 0 6 Stewart 10 3-6 5-5 0-3 1 1 11 Totals 240 25-74 21-24 20-45 14 20 73 Percentages: FG .338, FT .875.

3-Point Goals: 2-11, .182 (Thomas 1-3, Walters 1-3, Iverson 0-1, Jackson 0-2, McKie 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 8.

Blocked shots: 5 (Ratliff 3, Coleman, Weatherspoon).

Turnovers: 25 (Jackson 6, Thomas 4, McKie 3, Coleman 2, Ratliff 2, Iverson 2, Cummings, McKie, Parker, Stewart, team 2).

Steals: 6 (Davis 2, Weatherspoon 2, McKie, Parker).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 7:21, third.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Baker 29 5-15 1-4 3-4 1 1 11 Schrempf 20 5-8 2-2 2-3 3 2 13 McIlvaine 18 1-2 1-1 0-3 0 3 3 Hawkins 27 4-9 1-3 0-3 3 0 11 Payton 33 5-12 4-4 1-3 9 3 15 Ellis 26 6-9 0-0 0-3 2 1 13 Perkins 20 1-3 1-2 0-4 2 0 3 Williams 21 3-7 0-0 1-3 0 2 6 Wingate 15 1-3 0-0 0-3 0 1 2 Anthony 15 4-6 0-0 0-3 3 3 10 Snow 8 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1 2 Howard 8 0-2 1-4 1-1 0 3 1 Totals 240 36-79 11-20 8-33 25 20 90 Percentages: FG .456, FT .550.

3-Point Goals: 7-19, .368 (Anthony 2-3, Hawkins 2-6, Ellis 1-1, Schrempf 1-2, Payton 1-4, Baker 0-1, Perkins 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 18.

Blocked shots: 8 (McIlvaine 3, Williams 3, Perkins, Howard).

Turnovers: 15 (Ellis 3, Baker 2, Payton 2, Perkins 2, Anthony 2, Hawkins, Williams, Wingate, team).

Steals: 15 (Ellis 3, Anthony 3, Baker 2, Hawkins 2, Schrempf, Payton, Perkins, Wingate, Howard).

Technical fouls: None. Illegal defense: 1.

Philadelphia 20 16 11 26 - 73

Seattle 27 28 18 17 - 90

A-17,072 (17,072). T-1:59.