By Frank Hughes
The News Tribune
SAN ANTONIO – The Seattle SuperSonics must have felt like a sapling flattened by a K2 avalanche.
After a half of showing they could be a threat to the San Antonio Spurs in the first game of their best-of-five first-round playoff series, the Sonics were demolished in the second half of a 110-89 loss in the Alamodome on Saturday afternoon.
After fighting to a 52-all tie at halftime, the Sonics were outscored 38-13 in a devastating third quarter that thoroughly embodied the playoff intensity that Sonics coach Nate McMillan warned his young charges they knew nothing about – and which they never saw coming until it was too late.
It was a similar situation to the Sonics’ last regular-season game in San Antonio, when they dominated the first half, only to get outrun in the third quarter, after Spurs coach Gregg Popovich gave his players a tongue-lashing.
Only, in that game, the Sonics were able to reassert themselves.
Saturday, even with Rashard Lewis and Vladimir Radmanovic contributing, and even with Vin Baker playing well, there was no such response.
“I thought we looked OK in the first and second quarter,” McMillan said. “But when they jumped on us … and turned the third quarter into a track meet, I could see that we didn’t have anybody to pull us together and stop the bleeding. It just happened so fast.”
It got so bad that before a national television audience, Sonics point guard Gary Payton sat the entire fourth quarter while the 23,634 fans on hand serenaded Tim Duncan with chants of “MVP, MVP.” Well, all except Sonics principal owner Howard Schultz, who flew to San Antonio with his wife for the game.
Schultz could not have been blamed if he joined the crowd. Duncan was deserving, turning a lackluster first half into an astonishingly quick triple-double of 21 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, as well as five blocks.
The other outstanding player was rookie point guard Tony Parker. He beat the Sonics in their last meeting by hitting the game-winning jumper. He never allowed it to come to that Saturday. In his first NBA postseason game, he outplayed Payton, scoring 21 points in 27 minutes on 9-for-12 shooting, including 3-for-3 shooting on 3-pointers.
“We tip our hat to him,” said Payton, who had 19 points but was held to two assists.
The discouraging part to Sonics fans was that the Spurs won so handily with All-Star center David Robinson missing most of the game. The 12-year veteran played seven minutes before re-injuring his back, which he initially tweaked against Detroit on April 7.
Robinson went to the locker room to have it worked on, but was unable to get the tightness out. He had a magnetic resonance imaging scan (MRI) Saturday night, and his status for Game 2 on Monday should be known today.
In Robinson’s stead, Malik Rose and Antonio Daniels both scored 13 points, and Danny Ferry scored 11, on 3-for-4 shooting from 3-point range. Overall, the Spurs were 9-for-15 on 3-pointers, primarily because the Sonics spent so much time double-teaming Duncan inside.
With Robinson possibly out, McMillan said he was considering changing the starting lineup, which Saturday included Peja Drobnjak and Jerome James. While both those players were ineffective, Vin Baker unexpectedly had his best game since Feb. 2, when he scored 23 points against Chicago.
Baker came off the bench to score 22 points on 10-for-16 shooting and grab seven rebounds. Looking more active than he has since he dislocated three toes, he was a large reason the Sonics stayed close in the first half.
“I think you’ve got to think about starting Vin for the simple reason that David may not play on Monday,” McMillan said.
McMillan also said he will consider starting Lewis, who played for the first time in more than three weeks since spraining his ankle.
Lewis hit his first shot, a jumper, and scored 13 points and grabbed three rebounds in the 21 minutes he played. He was surprisingly agile for a player who two days ago could not run a three-man weave drill, though he still favored the injured leg.
“It still hurts and it’s still sore when I run on it and push off of it,” Lewis said. “But there is nothing I can do. It’s playoff basketball. I’ve got to be out there on the floor with the team.”
Of the possibility of starting Monday, Lewis said: “If that’s what (McMillan) wants to go with, I am all for it.”
It didn’t matter who was on the floor in the third quarter. The Sonics could not stop a Spurs team that shot 15-for-20. The Sonics turned over the ball eight times, and the Spurs scored 21 fastbreak points.
Had it not been for a tepid fourth quarter by San Antonio’s reserves, the Spurs certainly would have eclipsed a Sonics’ opponent’s record of 61 percent shooting in a playoff game. Instead, they shot 59 percent.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
