By Rich Myhre
Herald Writer
SEATTLE – This one was for pride.
Perhaps a better playoff position, too, but mostly pride.
After eight consecutive losses over three seasons to the Utah Jazz, the Seattle SuperSonics finally snagged a much-needed win over their pesky rivals with a 106-92 decision Monday night at KeyArena.
“That was the main thing, pride,” said forward Rashard Lewis. “We were able to get the monkey off our backs. I mean, whenever we played them the past few years, and when they’d (build a lead), we’d just give up. Even if it was in the second or third quarter, we’d give up. But tonight we didn’t give up. We kept going at them and we were able to win the game.”
They Sonics won largely because Lewis turned in one of the best performances of his four-year NBA career. He was 10-for-18 from the field and 8-for-11 from the free throw line for 28 points to go with 11 rebounds, both game highs. In a contest featuring three likely Hall of Famers – Utah’s John Stockton and Karl Malone, and Seattle’s Gary Payton – Lewis was simply the best player on the court.
“He does things so quietly,” said Sonics coach Nate McMillan. “You look at his stats and you see him with 28 points and 11 boards, and you can only remember him making a few shots. But he came up big. He apologized for having a bad first half as we were going into the locker room. He really wanted to play well. He hadn’t had a good game against these guys (this season), and tonight he did.”
“I told (McMillan) I was going to step it up in the second half, and I was able to do that,” said Lewis, who had 17 points and nine rebounds after halftime.
Payton, too, played well. He delivered 24 points, seven assists and two steals, with the latter number boosting his career total to 2,000. Only eight other players in NBA history have 2,000 or more career steals.
For awhile, it looked like Payton might not finish the game. In the second period, he fell hard into a cameraman and the basket support after being fouled from behind on a breakaway layin. Payton had gathered a long lead pass at full speed, and after converting an off-balance, left-handed shot it took only a slight nudge from behind by Utah’s Greg Ostertag to send Payton sprawling. He stayed down for two minutes before hobbling to the bench, but was able to return and shoot his free throw.
“The guy is just a warrior,” McMillan said of Payton, who received treatment for a bruised back after the game. “He’s banged up, but he still gives it to you. He didn’t want to come out of the game. His body is a little sore right now, but I think everything is OK.”
The Sonics spotted Utah an early 10-2 lead, but then rallied and went on top to stay late in the first period. The margin was in double digits through much of the second and third quarters, and for all but a few moments of the fourth period.
Seattle’s biggest lead was 19 points with 4 1/2minutes to play in the game, and Utah coach Jerry Sloan soon waved the white flag by pulling Stockton, Malone and the other Jazz starters.
Sloan, one of the league’s most forthright coaches, was plainly disgusted with his team’s effort.
“(The Sonics) just kicked us about every way you can,” he said. “It looked like a playoff game to them. It looked like an exhibition game to us. Personally, I thought the game would be a little more important than the way we showed up. It looked like we were disinterested in trying to compete against them. There wasn’t any fight in us.”
Seattle denied Utah guard John Stockton the gift of a birthday victory. Stockton, who turns 40 today, played well in defeat, totaling 17 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Malone added 24 points and five rebounds, but there was scant help from the other Jazz.
Utah was hurt by the loss of starting forward Donyell Marshall, the team’s second leading scorer, six minutes into the game. He limped off the court with a strained calf muscle and did not return.
“(Marshall) has really hurt us in the past,” McMillan said, “and who knows what would have happened if he had been there. But I’ve said all along that injuries are a part of the game and you must play through them.”
The win boosted Seattle’s lead over the Jazz to 1 1/2games for the No. 7 Western Conference playoff spot. The Sonics will need to finish ahead of Utah in the standings, though, based on a Jazz tiebreaker advantage from a 3-1 series edge this season.
Former University of Washington basketball coach Bob Bender watched the game from a courtside seat next to Sonics president Wally Walker. Bender declined a media request for a halftime interview.
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