Gill Blasts Karl, Then Leads Nets Past Sonics

Kendall Gill vented his anger, then got a victory.

Gill, who earlier this week ridded himself of two year’s frustration by blasting George Karl, scored 24 points in a grudge match with his former coach as the New Jersey Nets beat the Seattle SuperSonics 110-101.

Gill called Karl a coward earlier this week, saying he disliked him so much in Seattle that he wanted to fight him. Gill was eventually traded to Charlotte and then to the Nets last season.

“I said what I said, I got it off my chest and it’s a closed case now,” said Gill, who had 11 points in the final quarter. “I turned the emotion totally off. I just tried to play an easy game and let things come to me. This wasn’t a great win for me, it was a great win for our team.”

Before the game, Karl refused to be drawn into a controversy with Gill, who played two seasons in Seattle. After the game, he said the Nets just did a better job of shooting.

“We’re just not making our shots,” he said. “Matter of fact, we haven’t shot well all year. We just have to keep playing and keep shooting. We had a lot of mental breakdowns, and those and their great shooting adds up to them winning.”

Kerry Kittles added 20 points and Robert Pack finished with 19 points - including eight straight to put the Nets ahead for good - and 12 assists as the Nets posted their first win over a team with a plus-.500 record since February, a streak of 25 games.

“We’ve talked a lot about breaking barriers with this team and there are a lot of barriers to break,” Nets coach John Calipari said. “This was a barrier for us because we beat a team, a winning team that played for the championship, and they weren’t even coming off a back-to-back.”

Detlef Schrempf had a season-high 30 points for Seattle, which lost for the fourth time in six games after opening the season 14-3. Shawn Kemp added 19 points and 12 rebounds, but didn’t score with the game on the line in the final quarter.

Nets 110, SuperSonics 101

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Schrempf 39 11-14 7-7 3-7 2 2 30 Kemp 39 7-17 5-7 2-12 2 2 19 McIlvaine 15 1-5 0-2 2-4 1 3 2 Hawkins 34 4-9 1-1 3-5 4 1 11 Payton 44 7-20 2-6 2-4 10 2 18 Perkins 31 5-14 0-0 0-3 1 2 13 Stewart 7 1-1 0-0 3-3 1 1 2 Ehlo 13 1-5 0-0 0-1 1 3 2 Snow 17 2-3 0-0 0-2 2 1 4 Wingate 1 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 Totals 240 39-89 15-23 15-42 24 17 101 Percentages: FG .438, FT .652.

3-Point Goals: 8-23, .438 (Perkins 3-7, Hawkins 2-6, Payton 2-6, Schrempf 1-2, Ehlo 0-2). Team Rebounds: 8. Blocked shots: 3 (McIlvaine 2, Scrempf). Turnovers: 15 (Scrempf 4, Kemp 3, McIlvaine 2, Payton 2, Hawkins, Perkins, Stewart, Ehlo). Steals: 15 (Payton 5, Hawkins 3, Schrempf 2, Kemp 2, Perkins 2, Ehlo). Technical fouls: None. Illegal defense: None.

FG FT Reb NEW JERSEY Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Gill 39 7-21 9-9 1-3 7 2 24 Williams 39 8-12 0-1 6-17 4 3 16 Bradley 26 5-10 0-0 3-9 1 3 10 Kittles 41 7-14 2-3 2-5 1 4 20 Pack 40 9-15 0-0 0-3 12 5 19 Massenburg 15 1-3 0-0 1-3 0 2 2 Reeves 15 5-7 0-0 0-1 2 1 14 O’Bannon 9 1-3 0-0 0-2 2 0 3 Caldwell 16 1-1 0-0 1-6 0 3 2 Totals 240 44-86 11-13 14-49 29 23 110 Percentages: FG .512, FT .846.

3-Point Goals: 11-24, .458 (Reeves 4-5, Kittles 4-7, O’Bannon 1-2, Pack 1-4, Gill 1-6). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 6 (Williams 3, Gill 2, Bradley). Turnovers: 21 (Williams 5, Kittles 5, Pack 4, Reeves 3, Bradley 2, Gill, Caldwell). Steals: 6 (Kittles 3, Gill 2, Caldwell). Technical fouls: None. Illegal defense: None.

Seattle 27 17 33 24 - 101

New Jersey 26 35 20 29 - 110

A-14,279 (20,049). T-2:03.

Officials-Dick Bavetta, Bill Spooner, Tommy Wood.