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PHOENIX – Gary Payton sees the mistakes and he hopes they don’t resurface in the playoffs.
Payton scored 23 points for the Sonics Tuesday night but couldn’t lift his team past the Phoenix Suns in Seattle’s 99-92 loss.
The night before, the Sonics qualified for the playoffs by beating the Los Angeles Clippers.
“People have to understand that we have to get tuned up for the playoffs, so mistakes like turning the ball over and giving up offensive rebounds are going to hurt us,” Payton said. “We’ve got to focus more on that.”
Brent Barry added 18 points, Predrag Drobnjak scored 14, but fellow frontcourt starter Desmond Mason, who had a career-high 36 the night before, was held to eight.
Seattle coach Nate McMillan called Phoenix’s 38-33 rebounding edge – and his team’s 14 turnovers, although Phoenix had 16 – keys to the game.
“We didn’t take care of the ball,” McMillan said. “You can’t have 14 turnovers and give a team 11 second opportunities. We haven’t rebounded the ball all season long, and tonight was the same case.”
For the Suns, the win was a case of determination.
Stephon Marbury won’t take time off to have the bone spurs removed from his left ankle until after the season, and he’s making sure his Phoenix teammates share his attitude.
“We’re not packing it in,” Marbury said after scoring 27 points against playoff-bound Seattle. “We’re going out and playing as hard as we can. Some games may not look that way because we’re losing, but I think our guys have a lot of pride.”
Marbury, who also had 11 assists, made a high-arching runner with 38.2 seconds remaining and was fouled by Payton. The free throw gave the Suns a 96-90 lead and a boost toward snapping their four-game losing streak.
After two free throws by Seattle’s Ansu Sesay, Marbury passed to Dan Majerle for a clinching 3-pointer with 15.6 seconds remaining.
Bo Outlaw had 13 points for Phoenix, Shawn Marion 12 and Majerle 11 – eight in the fourth quarter.
“It’s been nice to be able to go out like this,” said Majerle, who has announced his retirement. “I’ve been shooting the ball well and playing a lot, especially in the fourth quarter, when it matters, and it’s been a lot of fun this past couple of months.”
Seattle, which trailed from midway through the first quarter, got within two points four times before startling the Suns into a surge that reopened the gap. But the Sonics cut the deficit to 83-82 on Vin Baker’s layup with 5:19 to go.
Drobnjak tied it at 88 with two free throws with 2:34 left, fouling out Jake Voskuhl, Phoenix’s last remaining true center, in the process. But the Suns responded again.
Majerle opened a 91-88 lead with a 3-pointer, then passed to Joe Johnson for a jumper that made it 93-90 with 1:07 remaining.
Johnson had two baskets and threw an alley-oop pass to Marbury for a dunk as Phoenix outscored the Sonics 12-4 in a four-minute run after Seattle closed to 63-61 with 5:31 to go in the third period.
Payton made a 3-pointer with 1:07 left for the last points of the third, Mason scored four points in the first 1:28 of the fourth, and Vladimir Radmanovic’s 3-pointer cut the deficit to 78-76 with 9:15 left in the game.
No more than four points separated the teams until the Suns closed the first quarter with an 11-0 run in the final 3:50, taking a 27-18 lead. Marbury had a hand in all but two points during the surge, making two baskets and two free throws and assisting on a layup by Voskuhl and the first of Majerle’s three 3-pointers.
Phoenix’s lead reached 36-24 on a jumper by Marion with 7:09 left in the second quarter.
“It was our most consistent effort that we’ve had in a long time as far as each quarter,” Suns coach Frank Johnson said. “We had a slowdown during that second quarter when we were up 10 and then they cut it down, but we were able to get it back and maintain our force.”
Payton had seven rebounds for 3,978 career, passing Michael Cage for third on Seattle’s career rebounding list.
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