Sonics Tough It Out Seattle Takes First Pacific Showdown

When the game was decided at the finish, the Seattle SuperSonics’ maturity and poise beat the Los Angeles Lakers’ youth.

Who said the Sonics were too old?

“We showed some mental toughness with some key plays down the stretch,” Vin Baker said after the Sonics used four crucial free throws in the final 17.1 seconds to help them defeat the Lakers 101-95.

It was the first meeting of the season between the Pacific Division rivals with the NBA’s best records.

“We had a lot of chances, but every time we got close they shut the door on us,” the Lakers’ Nick Van Exel said.

Shaquille O’Neal had 30 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots and Eddie Jones poured in 23 points on 9-for-19 shooting, but the Sonics got two free throws each from veterans Hersey Hawkins and Detlef Schrempf at the end of the game.

“It was nice to show the rest of the nation how good our team is,” Hawkins said. The game was televised nationally by NBC.

After Kobe Bryant scored on a dunk with 42.4 seconds left to cut Seattle’s lead to 97-95, Hawkins was fouled by Jones while rebounding a missed shot by Gary Payton and sank his free throws with 17.1 seconds to go.

Schrempf made two free throws to cement the win with 10.6 seconds left after a foul by Robert Horry.

Horry and Jones missed 3-point attempts after Schrempf’s free throws.

“This was another one of those games when we couldn’t shoot the free throw well,” said Lakers coach Del Harris, whose team is 26th in the league in free-throw shooting. Los Angeles was 20 for 34 from the line Saturday.

Payton went down hard near the Lakers basket with 2:11 to go and grabbed his right ankle, but got back up minutes later to an applauding crowd of 17,072. He made one of his two free-throw attempts to give Seattle a 97-92 lead.

After the game, Payton’s injury was described by the Sonics as a bruised right heel. He is expected to play in Seattle’s game in Sacramento Monday night.

After Payton’s free throw, O’Neal sank a free throw, but Nick Van Exel committed a crucial traveling violation with 1:09 on the clock.

Baker had 23 points, Payton 20 and Schrempf 19 for Seattle.

Seattle’s starting forwards, Baker and Schrempf, outscored the Lakers’ starting duo of Horry and Rick Fox 42-1.

In the final quarter, the Lakers were 0 for 5 from 3-point range and 6 for 11 from the free-throw line.

“We had the open 3s out of the double teams, but we weren’t hitting our shots,” Bryant said.

By winning, the Sonics (33-9) put their coaching staff in the Feb. 8 All-Star game in New York.

SuperSonics 101, Lakers 95

FG FT Reb L.A. LAKERS Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Fox 22 0-2 0-0 0-2 4 3 0 Horry 33 0-4 1-2 4-9 4 5 1 O’Neal 35 12-19 6-13 3-12 2 3 30 Jones 45 9-19 5-7 1-8 1 4 23 Van Exel 45 6-20 1-2 0-0 8 4 15 Bryant 33 6-14 5-8 1-4 0 5 18 Blount 4 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 1 0 Campbell 20 3-5 2-2 3-7 1 1 8 Fisher 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 Totals 240 36-84 20-34 12-43 21 27 95

Percentages: FG .429, FT .588.

3-Point Goals: 3-24, .125 (Van Exel 2-12, Bryant 1-4, Horry 0-4, Jones 0-4).

Team Rebounds: 13.

Blocked shots: 10 (O’Neal 5, Campbell 3, Horry, Bryant).

Turnovers: 11 (O’Neal 3, Van Exel 3, Bryant 3, Horry, Jones).

Steals: 7 (Van Exel 3, Jones 2, Fox, Horry).

Technical fouls: Fox, 10:13, 4th.

Illegal defense: None.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Baker 39 9-21 5-6 4-10 4 4 23 Schrempf 38 5-11 8-8 5-13 2 4 19 McIlvaine 11 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 4 2 Hawkins 35 4-7 2-2 1-9 3 1 13 Payton 44 9-23 1-3 1-11 7 1 20 Perkins 23 0-4 0-0 0-3 1 5 0 Ellis 27 5-9 5-5 0-2 1 0 17 Kersey 18 1-5 5-6 0-1 0 5 7 Anthony 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Wingate 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 34-82 26-30 11-49 19 24 101

Percentages: FG .415, FT .867.

3-Point Goals: 7-19, .368 (Hawkins 3-5, Ellis 2-4, Schrempf 1-1, Payton 1-5, Anthony 0-1, Perkins 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 9.

Blocked shots: 5 (Baker 2, Schrempf, McIlvaine, Perkins).

Turnovers: 11 (Schrempf 3, Payton 3, Hawkins 2, Ellis 2, Kersey).

Steals: 6 (Kersey 2, Baker, Hawkins, Perkins, Ellis).

Technical fouls: Kersey, 1:09, 3rd; Payton, 3:30, 4th; Coach Karl, 2:43, 4th.

Illegal defense: None.

L.A. Lakers 34 24 15 22 - 95

Seattle 30 33 14 24 - 101

A-17,072 (17,072). T-2:29.