By Rich Myhre
Herald Writer
SEATTLE – If this one was being scored for artistic merit, the marks would hardly have been medal-worthy.
Of course, basketball games are judged differently than skating contests, and all that mattered to the Seattle SuperSonics on Friday night was that they came from behind in the final period to eke out a much-needed 99-96 victory over the Atlanta Hawks at KeyArena.
“I’ll take it,” Seattle SuperSonics coach Nate McMillan said with obvious relief. “It was just a bad game by us, but in the fourth quarter we made it happen.”
The win was just Seattle’s third in nine home games over a three-week stretch, and in every one of those losses the Sonics had early leads that escaped in the late minutes. Friday’s contest was the exact opposite, with Seattle trailing through most of the first three quarters before going on top to stay with four minutes left in the game.
Still, the injury-hampered Hawks – three key players are on the injured list and a fourth, Toni Kukoc, watched from the bench – refused to buckle. When Seattle product Jason Terry heaved in a 3-point goal from the left wing with 13 seconds to play, Atlanta was within a single point, 97-96.
Two Desmond Mason free throws pushed Seattle’s margin back to three, and the Hawks managed just one shot – a baseline 3-point try by Shareef Abdur-Rahim that kicked off the rim – in the closing seconds.
“There were three quarters where it seemed like we weren’t here,” McMillan said, “but in the fourth quarter we made plays. … You have games like this sometimes. I think we were a little lucky. We need some breaks and we got one tonight. A few things went our way and we stole one, I think.”
Gary Payton led the Sonics with 21 points and eight assists (both team highs) and backcourt mate Brent Barry contributed 17 points – he was 6-for-9 from the field and 4-for-5 from the 3-point stripe – to go with six rebounds and three assists.
Also chipping in was center Jerome James, who played 22 minutes – including the final seven – and had one of the game’s pivotal plays. With 26 seconds to play and Seattle on top 95-93, Payton curled down the right side of the lane for an arching layin try. The ball came off the rim, but James was there – all 7 feet, 1 inch of him – to tap the ball into the basket.
“I thought Jerome James, the big fella, was the player of the game late,” McMillan said. “He was active, rebounding and blocking shots.” Citing two James fouls that denied Atlanta layins, he added, “Nothing in there was going to come easy.”
The Sonics won despite a brilliant performance by Terry, who was even better than his 28-point KeyArena effort of a year ago. The 6-foot-2 guard, who attended Franklin High School, led all scorers with 32 points and also had eight assists and four rebounds.
“Jason’s been terrific,” Atlanta coach Lon Kruger said. “He’s just an outstanding player and a great young guy. He loves to play. He plays them all pretty hard, but I’m sure this one meant a little more because he’s home.”
Terry, who gave away 65 tickets to family and friends, trains with many of the Sonics in the offseason, including Payton. The two are developing a nice friendship.
“I’m still a fan,” Terry said of Payton. “That’s a guy I look up to and still admire. Gary is Gary, and he led his team to a win tonight.”
The Sonics were to leave town this morning for their last East Coast/Midwest road swing. The trip starts Sunday in Toronto and continues with stops in Cleveland, Atlanta, New York and Memphis.
The good news is that the Sonics will play their next five games on the road, where they have won five straight in that same three-week span.
“We needed this win really, really bad,” James said. “We really wanted to get some momentum going into this road trip. This is a long road trip for us and we think we can win most of the games, if not all the games, so we wanted to get a good head of steam.”
“We were taking Atlanta lightly and we started off slow,” added Seattle’s Rashard Lewis. “But we finally turned it up late in the game. We probably didn’t play as well as we should have, but we definitely needed this win. I think this will help us out on the road confidence-wise getting ready for this five-game road trip.”
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