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Sonics Lose Squeaker, Two Streaks To Knicks Ellis Misses Last-Second Shot, Leaving Seattle A Point Short

Chris Sheridan Associated Press

The Seattle SuperSonics won’t go into Chicago with a pair of nine-game winning streaks and a big “30” in the victory column.

Instead, they’ll be coming off a rare close loss.

The Sonics had their eight-game overall and eight-game road winning streaks snapped Sunday night when Dale Ellis missed a short jumper at the buzzer, allowing the New York Knicks to walk away with a surprising 92-91 victory.

It was the first one-point loss of the season for the Sonics, whose only other loss by five points or less happened way back on Nov. 11. - an 89-87 setback at Atlanta.

“It was exactly the shot we wanted, we ran the exact play we wanted, the shot just didn’t go down,” Ellis said. “It’s no big deal. They (the Knicks) will be lucky to make the playoffs. We have a legitimate shot to win it all.”

The Sonics had two chances to win it in the final seconds.

Gary Payton - who had struggled all night - missed a runner in the lane with four seconds left. The ball went out of bounds off New York, giving Seattle one last chance, but Ellis failed to connect from about 10 feet away.

It was the first road loss for the Sonics since Dec. 7 and their first loss of any kind since Dec. 23.

Seattle, which had won 14 of its previous 15, still will go into Tuesday night’s game against the Bulls with an NBA-best record of 29-7.

“We know they look at us as the team that’s going to come out of the West,” Ellis said. “We’ll be coming off a disappointing loss, and we’ll be up for that one.”

Larry Johnson scored 20 points for New York, Allan Houston had 19 and John Starks 15 - including 10 in a quick burst late in the fourth quarter. However, Starks missed two foul shots with 17 seconds left that could have given New York a three-point lead.

“It was the longest 17 seconds of my career. My teammates bailed me out,” Starks said. “It was a good win for us. We controlled the ball and beat the best team in the NBA.”

Detlef Schrempf had 23 points and 13 rebounds for Seattle. Hersey Hawkins scored 19 points and Vin Baker 14 for the Sonics.

Payton, who was defended by an off guard, Houston, for most of the night, finished with only seven points on 3-for-12 shooting and did not attempt a free throw.

“They were pounding us, we didn’t get any calls and we still had a chance to win,” Payton said. “They still have to come to Seattle to play us, and we’ll be looking forward to seeing them out there.”

The Knicks, who have the league’s leading defense, became only the second team in the last 16 games to hold the Sonics below 100 points.

Starks hit a pair of 3-pointers on consecutive possessions for New York late in the fourth, the second of which gave the Knicks an 88-87 lead with 2:39 left.

Baker and Starks each made a pair of free throws, leaving the Knicks ahead 90-89 entering the final two minutes.

xxxx Knicks 92, Sonics 91 FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Schrempf 39 9-14 4-4 3-13 3 2 23 Baker 34 5-10 4-4 0-5 2 5 14 McIlvaine 14 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 6 4 Hawkins 37 7-16 3-3 2-4 2 2 19 Payton 40 3-12 0-0 2-5 9 1 7 Perkins 27 3-3 4-4 0-1 2 3 10 Ellis 30 5-9 0-0 1-3 1 4 10 A.Williams 3 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 1 0 Wingate 8 1-2 0-0 0-1 0 1 2 Anthony 8 1-4 0-0 0-2 2 1 2 Totals 240 36-74 15-15 9-35 21 26 91 Percentages: FG .486, FT .100. 3-Point Goals: 4-16, .250 (Hawkins 2-6, Schrempf 1-1, Payton 1-5, Anthony 0-1, Ellis 0-3). Team Rebounds: 7. Blocked shots: 2 (McIlvaine, A.Williams). Turnovers: 17 (Baker 5, Ellis 3, Perkins 2, Anthony 2, Schrempf, McIlvaine, Payton, A.Williams, Wingate). Steals: 4 (Payton 3, Baker). Technical fouls: None. Illegal defense: None. FG FT Reb NEW YORK Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Johnson 39 7-16 5-6 2-9 1 2 20 Oakley 31 3-8 2-2 2-7 2 2 8 Dudley 14 1-2 0-0 2-6 0 0 2 Houston 37 7-15 4-4 0-1 4 3 19 Ward 28 4-10 1-2 2-4 4 3 11 Mills 18 3-6 2-4 3-4 1 4 8 B.Williams 24 2-4 2-2 4-9 0 2 6 Childs 20 1-4 0-0 0-0 5 3 3 Starks 29 5-15 2-4 1-1 5 1 15 Totals 240 33-80 18-24 16-41 22 20 92 Percentages: FG .413, FT .750. 3-Point Goals: 8-23 .340 (Starks 3-9, Ward 2-5, Houston 1-2, Childs 1-2, Johnson 1-3, Mills 0-2). Team Rebounds: 8. Blocked shot: 1 (Johnson). Turnovers: 9 (Mills 4, Johnson 2, Oakley, B.Williams, Starks) Steals: 5 (Oakley, Houston, Ward, Mills, Childs). Technical fouls: None. Illegal defense: None. Seattle 23 20 28 20 - 91 New York 23 24 22 23 - 92 A-19,763 (19,763). T-2:14.